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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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copyright 1910 

New Amstel Magazine Co. 

Wilmington, Del., U. S. A. 



A BLOSSOM 

OF THE 

SEA 

AND OTHER POEMS 



By Lyman C. Smith 



New Amstel Magazine Company 
Wilmington, Delaware, U. S. A. 

ANNO DOMINI MCMX 






'fp- r\ 



£CI.A2?8226 



vi: 



CONTENTS 



Introductory Sonnets 






7 8 


Shadows . . . . 






9 


The Auction 






14 


Sahle Island . . . . 






19 


Lament of a Skeleton . 






26 


Semper Eadem 






31 


The Queen . . . . 






34 


Rex Mortuus Est, Tamen Vivit 






37 


Ambition and Praise 






41 


Our City Cousin 






43 


A Child's Question 






49 


On a Dog^ Buried in His Master's CI 


oak 




53 


A View of Death 






55 


The Deserted House . 






58 


To Miriam 






61 


The Snow 






70 


Whitby Ladies' College 






71 


A Blossom of the Sea 






74 


A Pioneer Farmer 






100 


HoTV Long? 






109 


Onward 






111 


Majuba Hill . 






113 


Canada to Columbia 






116 


Columbia to Canada 






118 


Builders of the Broad Dominion 






120 


England 






125 


The Bay of Quinte 






125 



CONTENTS 



A Leader 


• 






126 


Tte Marsh in Winter 






127 


Deformities 






127 


The Death and Memory of the Jusi 






128 


Archibald Lampman 






130 


Theodore H. Rand 






131 


Alexandra 






132 


On Viewing King Edward's Picture 






132 


Goldwin Smith 






133 


Florence Nightingale 






133 


Mark Twain 






134 


Fragments 






135 


LES BELLES CANADIENNES 


To Louise ...... 136 


To Marie 








136 


To Nellie 








137 


To Olive 








138 


To Clara 








138 


To Vivian 








139 


To Margaret 








139 


To Aileen 








140 


To Katie 








141 


To Maud 








141 


The Bessemer, No. 2 








143 


A Lesson 








146 


The Passing Year 








147 


To a Friend 








149 


Falling Stars 








151 


Fairy Land 








152 


The Robins 








154 



CONTENTS 



SONGS 

Anticipation 

Elaine . . . _ 

When robins pipe their warning 

O turn to me clearest . 

When down from realms of peerless blue 

She's a bright little, slight little maid 

IN LIGHTER VEIN 

How Jennie Crossed the Border 

A Morning's Adventures with Autos 

A Stirring Scene 

The Letter 

The Yantic 

Jonathan and I 

John Bull and Son Sam 

Golfing on the Green . 

Ulysses 

Aviators 

Finis 



157 
159 
161 
161 
163 
164 



167 
173 
176 
179 
180 
183 
187 
190 
193 
214 
218 



A Blossom of the Sea 




Go, LITTLE BOOK, thy silent lips unseal 
For all that plod life's valleys glad or drear; 
The secrets of thy maker's heart reveal 

To all that deign thy simple words to hear. 
Disclose what joys or griefs have swelled his breast, 

What pleasures cheered, what bitter trials vexed, 
What hopes encouraged, or what doubts distressed 
In darker hours when mysteries perplexed. 



These musings on his way, not darker made. 
Nor brighter, than for thousands more beside, 

May aid some soul dejection to evade. 
Or glad some baffled bosom sorely tried. 

Go, little book, thy silent lips unseal, 

The purpose of thy maker's heart reveal. 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A WREATH of blooms, — or what are blooms to 
me, — 
Meek wayside dwellers with the clustered weed, 
Nor fairest nor the best that deck the mead, 
Nor what I might have gathered were I free 
To leave my ordered path and nearer see 
The streams, whose distant call I hear, that lead 
The leisured foot where banks of sweetness feed 
With floating balm the height and level lea, 

I proffer these to bring what cheer they may 
To all that hurry on the crowded way: 
For me, the breathings of their fragrant lips. 

Their modest faces peering from the sod. 
The touches of their velvet finger-tips, 

Have cheered the darkest valleys I have trod. 



8 



And Other Poems 



SHADOWS 

I. 

O EARTH, colossal charnel heap, 
To thee all life must tribute give; 
Thou dost the dead of ages keep, 
Shalt be the grave of all that live. 

There is no morsel of thy mould 

With wreck and waste of life unblent; 

The dead thy heaving waters hold. 
The dead are in thy bosom pent. 

The bloom that lifts a timid face, 
The oak that braves a tyrant blast, 

Shall feel the chill of thy embrace 
And mingle with thy dust at last. 

The countless tissue-pinioned things 
Fulfil their slender hour and fall ; 

The bird that to the zenith springs 
Thy sordid clods at last enthral. 

The worm that mines a winding cave. 
The ant that drills thy flinty crust, 

Shall find their sunless home a grave 
And add their atom to thy dust. 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Below thy heaving mounds are hid 
The dead of ages all unknown; 

The cliff is but a pyramid 

That holds the dead embalmed in stone. 

The chalk-built height a mound of shells 
From which the fragile life hath fled ; 

Thy restless ocean foams and swells 
O'er slimy deeps of shapeless dead. 

The mammoth huge in forest gloom, 

That crushed with stolid step thy mould, 

Thy winter-fettered sands entomb, 
Or sunken bogs imprisoned hold. 



II. 



O Earth, from days of dawning time 
Hast thou been steeped in purple flood; 

The monsters of the early prime 

Contending drenched thee in their blood. 

The timid fawn the lion tears 

The brooding dove the eagle takes, 

The swallow cleaving summer airs 
Of whining gnat a victim makes. 

The stronger rend the shrinking weak; 

Nor Life her tribute may deny, 
For these with sanguine claw and beak 

Must sate a craving maw or die. 



10 



And Other Poems 



But man with more undying wrath 
The trail of slaughter hath pursued; 

The taint of blood is on his path, 

His brow with brother's blood imbued. 

No inch of soil his foot hath pressed 

But human ashes roof it o'er; 
And not a clod upon thy breast 

But bears the tinge of human gore. 

No Alpine snow undyed is found, 
No cave with unbesprinkled stones, 

No plain unmarked by charnel mound, 
No sea unpaved with human bones. 

In all the dim uncounted years 
Too many are the ways of death : 

The arctic chills, — the tropic seres, — 
The desert blasts with poison breath ; 

Fierce toil unceasingly consumes, — 
The glare of molten furnace blights, — 

Disease the cradled infant dooms, — 
Contagion half a nation smites, — 

Gaunt Famine glides through glebe and town; 

They stifle in the dismal mine, — 
Thy yawning bosom gulfs them down, — 

They choke in swirls of seething brine. 



// 



A Blossom of the Sea 



III. 

O Earth, thou art the nurse of life ! 

O Earth, thou givest man his breath! 
Then why this universal strife, 

And why this carnival of death? 

Is man in all the doom and din 

But plaything for the whirling gust? 

Is Life — this life that stirs within — 
A passing eddy in the dust? 

Is Life a stream whose winding maze 
Must end in Death's eternal shoal? 

Is Life the transitory phase, 

And Death the last and final goal ? 

Yet from the wreck and waste of dead 
The varied forms of being spring: 

From ashes, from the husk and shred 
Thou dost in turn the living brii^g. 

No tree may rise from nut mature 
Unless the parent nut be riven ; 

Is this thy changeless law and sure 
That life for life be ever given? 

The hidden records of thy breast, 
If rightly we their secret read. 

Declare thy fixed and stern behest, 

"The low shall pass; the high succeed." 



12 



And Other Poems 



Can this forever be thine aim? 

Is this thy purpose and thy plan, 
From all the fallen wreck to frame 

The higher type, the perfect man? 

Afar the eye we backward strain: 

The wave is fenced with dyke of stone, — 

The marsh is gone, — the monster slain, — 
We dream the world is better grown; 

We dream what is and what hath been 

Are atoms of a mighty whole 
That, guided by a hand unseen. 

Is moving to a final goal. 

But what the goal? Unknown — unknown — 
The fronting mists are hard to part; 

We grope through shadows dim and lone 
And follow whispers of the heart. 

January, 1902. 



13 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE AUCTION 

AT THE low sunken doorway an auctioneer stood, 
And he and the crowd were in jocular mood, 
For before him about on the walk were displayed 
The goods of a debtor whose rent was unpaid — 
Old-fashioned and shrunken, disfigured by wear, 
Unvarnished, and broken beyond all repair. 

*'A collection of articles here I present 

Such as never to hammer of auctioneer went. 

Of their value as relics I need but remark 

That Noah secured them to furnish his ark. 

A garden unpeopled this world might have smiled 

Had these not the gloom of that voyage beguiled. 

"Now, here is a bed so decrepit and old 

It leans for support as it stands to be sold; 

Its tremulous wails of rheumatic distress 

Tell the twinges of pain that it cannot suppress. 

Who bids for an article useful and cheap, 

A bed that makes music to lull you to sleep ? 

''Here's a fine chest of drawers. Allow me to state 
'Twas the first Adam made when he left Eden's gate. 
Mother Eve kept her bonnet in this, while in that 
You'll yet find the band of his best Sunday hat ; 
While here, as a proof it was once Mother Eve's, 
Are a few relics left of her garment of leaves. 



14 



And Other Poems 



"Here's a chair: and you'll say, when it closely you 

view, 
That Adam could never have made more than two. 
On that he perched Abel ; on this he raised Cain ; 
That this is the cane chair is perfectly plain. 
It will rock without rockers, for 'mong its good points 
Are double back-acting and flexible joints." 

While he jested and jeered without ceasing the crowd 
As they bid or they listened laughed hearty and loud. 
But apart, on the margin, dejected and sad, 
Stood a grey-headed woman all shabbily clad. 
No smile at the auctioneer's wit could you trace, 
But the tears trickled fast down the wrinkled old face. 

For she thought of a day when that chest was her 

pride 
And the one precious boast of a new-wedded bride ; 
She thought of the gown and the bridal array 
That once nestled there neatly folded away. 
Those few scattered leaves were a love-gift of old, 
But the hand that bestowed them was crumbled to 

mould. 

And this was the chair where that loved one reposed 
When the darkness his long day of labor had closed, 
When with strength in his arm and with hope in his 

breast 
In the struggle of life he had stood with the best. 
And this was the chair where he day after day 
Sat pallid and strengthless and faded away. 



15 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And this was the bed, when no more he could rise, 
When the light of another world shone in his eyes 
And illumined his cheek, where he sank down at last 
And lay while the years drifted languidly past; 
Till, one dismal morning, here clasped on his breast 
The thin, shrunken fingers at last found a rest. 

On that old creaking couch after day's weary round 
For forty long years he a rest nightly found ; 
And now on that couch after life's weary close 
He found from its toil an eternal repose : 
No more the lip quivered with half-suppressed pain, 
No pang broke the peace of his slumber again. 

When the auctioneer next took a wee baby's chair — 
The one single piece yet untarnished by wear — 
Again rose the vision of ne'er-forgot years. 
Again burst the stream from the fountain of tears, 
And there broke from her lips such a moan of distress 
That it told more of anguish than words could express. 

In the lone happy days of the long, long ago. 
Had she pleaded with Heaven a child to bestow. 
The Lord heard her cry, and, in answer, of those 
Best-beloved by the angels the dearest he chose. 
Its hair into ringlets their hands had caressed. 
Its cheeks into dimples their fingers had pressed. 

Its face wore the joy of the glad seraph throng 
When they circle the altar and burst into song; 
Its brow had been smoothed by the Lord's shining 
hand, 

i6 



And Other Poems 



Its lips had been touched with His red altar-brand. 
The heart-winning ways that endeared it above 
Awoke all her dormant affection and love. 

And this plain little chair for the child was a throne 
Where it prattled and sang in a low musing tone 
Of the wonderful world it had dwelt in on high : 
And the glad-pinioned years flitted tranquilly by 
In a radiant clime of ineffable peace, 
For she dreamed that her happiness never could cease. 

But all that the angels can suffer of pain 

They felt, and they pined for their darling again. 

So downward they stole at the close of the day 

Where restless and flushed on the pillow it lay. 

It slept while she fondled each pain-moistened tress — 

It woke at the touch of an angel's caress. 

The casket was broken, the treasure was gone ; 

Though childless and widowed she long struggled on; 

But in all of her poverty, hunger and pain 

Her lost baby's chair she contrived to retain. 

But now, as she gazed through the mist of her tears, 

'Twas the one verdant plot in the desert of years. 

The chair he upHfted. The crowd nearer pressed 
Expectantly waiting the auctioneer's jest; 
But his ear caught the cry and the moan of dismay. 
And the half -uttered jest on his lips died away; 
For he saw on her face the mute look of despair 
And he read at a glance all its history there. 



n 



A Blossom of the Sea 



The hammer he dropped, from his station he went, 
He flung to the landlord the trifle of rent; 
The chair in the hands of the mother he pressed, 
Who hugged it convulsively close to her breast. 
And silently lifted her tear-streaming eyes 
Where gratitude mingled with joyful surprise. 

The crowd saw the act and they gave him a cheer : 
If the chord's rightly touched it will ever ring clear. 
He found her a shelter from tempest and cold. 
And it lacked not her store of the treasures of old. 
With his hand and his heart moving thus in accord. 
He felt something higher than earthly reward. 



i8 



And Other Poems 



SABLE ISLAND 

\Many years ago a young lady njoas coming out to become the bride of 
an English officer stationed at Halifax, ivhen the n;essel ^was caught 
in a fog and njorecked on Sable Island. The lady nvas the only one 
sa'ved, and succeeded in reaching land, but the nvreckers, attracted by 
her dress, aud especially by a ring she Hjoore, robbed her and then 
cast her into the sea. ] 

I. 

EASTWARD leagues from Nova Scotia, 
Where across the lonesome levels 
Silent, shrouded spectres creep, 
Long and low lies Sable Island 
Like the fabled ocean serpent. 
Stretched in curves of lengthened winding 
Slumbering on the sleepless deep. 

There for ages have the Tempests,* 
Maddened scavengers of ocean, 
Flung the refuse from their hands ; 
There have tumbled in confusion 
Stifled crews and shattered vessels, 
Jeweled chains and silken mantles, 



Shifting with the shifting sands. 



19 



A Blossom of the Sea 



II. 

Years agone a gallant vessel, 
Oaken-ribbed and snowy-pinioned, 
O'er the heaving azure pressed: 
Morning pointed hands of glory, 
Evening down her shining pathway 
Beckoned on with flaming beacons. 
Guiding to the golden West. 

Day despatched her racing rivals, 
Fluttering torn and tattered canvas, 
Speeding through the upper blue ; 
Night within his gay pavilion. 
Bending low in loving homage, 
Down upon the path before her 
Star-enwoven garments threw. 

On the shores of Nova Scotia 

Stood a gallant soldier lover 

Waiting for his coming bride : 

In her far-off English mansion 

Heads were bowed and hearts were lonely, 

Loving lips were pleading lowly 

For their darling and their pride. 

Peering onward through the shadows, 
In the dimness of the dawning 
Stood she on the deck alone : 
Fairer was she than the Morning 
When he wears the flush of waking. 



20 



And Other Poems 



When the misty loosened tresses 
Lightly from his brow are blown. 

Limpid were her eyes and bluer 
Than the beaming liquid azure 
Of the sky-bemocking deep ; 
For the voyage now was ending — 
Ere the Angels of the Dawning 
Passed again their golden portals 
Would she into harbor sweep. 

Voices from the verge of homeland 
Seemed to fall in fainter echoes 
Ever dying on her ear ; 
While in tones becoming clearer 
Came a call across the waters 
From the glowing land of sunset, 
Every moment growing near. 

From the margin of the homeland 
Hands that closely clung in parting 
Stretched across the swelling surge; 
Yet her longing heart impelled her 
Where the hand of lover beckoned 
Onward to the land of promise 
On the ocean's western verge. 

in. 

Never arms of mother pressed her, 
Never lover's hand caressed her, 
Never answered she their call ; 



21 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Stronger arms were stretched to hold her, 
Ruder lips caressed and colder, 
Louder came a call and bolder, 
More imperative than all. 

From the land of gloom and shadow 
Noiseless came the spectres gliding — 
Sheeted forms whose ghostly hands 
Folded round the fated vessel 
Blinding veils and wreaths of vapor. 
Led her where she plunged and floundered 
In the sinking, oozy sands. 

Then the Tempest and his legions. 
Ranged in rushing crested squadrons, 
Sweeping down with boding roar. 
Struck and overthrew the vessel, 
Trampled canvas, mast and banner, 
Bore away the bride and tossed her 
Breathless, fainting on the shore. 

Cruel were the sheeted spectres, 
Tyrannous the trampling tempest, 
But more cruel yet was man. 
Waking from her swooning slumber, 
Weak the sodden shore she wandered, 
When a boat with wreckers laden 
To the shallow harbor ran: 

Fiends that quench the warning beacon, 
Set the death-alluring signal. 



22 



And Other Poems 



Greedy hover for their prey ; 
Ruthless, hungry ocean vultures, — 
Pirates of the wrecked and stranded, — 
Ghouls that rob the dead and dying, 
Nor the living shun to slay. 

Here they found the hapless maiden 
Straying on the barren shoreland. 
Helpless, shelterless, alone. 
Pendent over velvet mantle 
Hung a gleaming golden necklace, 
While the jewel of betrothal 
Flaming on her finger shone. 

Into waiting boat they bore her. 
Spoiled her of her costly mantle, 
Rudely wrenched away the chain; 
But her hand, with death's convulsion, 
Tightly clenched the precious love-gift, 
And to force it from her finger 
All their efforts were in vain. 

Wrathful at the maid's resistance, 
Off they smote the snowy finger, 
Seized the jeweled golden band; 
Then the maiden, bruised and bleeding. 
Flung they from their floating shallop : 
Shrieking sank she in the surges. 
Holding high her wounded hand. 



23 



A Blossom of the Sea 



IV. 

Long the lonesome lover lingered, 

Long the mother interceded 

With the deaf, unheeding wave ; 

Though the months to years were growing, 

Ship nor sailor brought him tidings; 

Naught but mocking, moaning echoes 

To her cry the ocean gave. 

In a seaport of Acadia 
Was the ring at last discovered, 
Once the treasure of the bride. 
And the roving wretch that sold it, 
Lying in a home of mercy. 
Conscience-tortured, horror-haunted, 
Gasped the ghoulish tale and died. 

V. 

Still when ghostly mists are gliding 
Near the coasts of Sable Island 
Is a slender maiden seen 
Lifting hand with severed finger. 
Passing like a fleeting shadow 
Over shallow sea and shoreland, 
With a sorrow-troubled mien, — 

Seeking, restless and bewildered, 
'Mid the misty maze of waters. 
Where her westward path may lie ; 
Ever thwarted, ever turning. 



24 



And Other Poems 



Ever more perplexed she wanders, 
Searching for her vanished jewel, 
With a tender plaintive cry. 

There amid the maddest tumult 
Of the Tempest, hoarse with passion. 
One the maiden's moaning hears 
Sinking to a sobbing whisper. 
Swelling to a scream of terror, 
Till beneath the bubbling billows 
Swift the phantom disappears. 



2$ 



A Blossom of the Sea 



LAMENT OF A SKELETON 

[Near Mentone, in France, has been unearthed in a ca^ve, under a 
large accumulation of later deposits, a grange containing t-ivo skeletons, 
evidently those of a man and a ivoman, lying side by side, njoith 
trinkets scattered around. These <ivere all remo'ved to the museum.] 



IN AGES gone, when Time and Earth were young, 
We trod the wildness of the swampy gloom 
Where night of horror ever round us hung; 

We heard with awe the mighty billows boom 
And break upon the beach with sounding crash ; 

We saw the rivers delve their dykes of stone. 
Or burst the barriers of the hills and dash 

Primeval monarchs from their seated throne. 
Within the pathless forests we pursued 

The mighty monsters; or for life we fought, 
And when the snarling savage lay subdued, 

His shaggy spoils for food and vesture brought 
Within the murkv hollows of our cave. 

Where jutting shelves of jag^ged rock were piled 
On shapeless shattered walls, and gave 

A dismal shelter from the winter wild. 

We lived our lives. With zeal we blindly did 
The lowly task allotted us, — with crude 

Materials of the early world amid 

The rugged cliffs to make a pathway rude 

26 



And Other Poems 



For after-feet to widen and improve : 

For all the generations of the past 
Have merely builded for the hosts that move 

Through many windings to the height at last. 
We lived our lives : and when the summons came, 

Our rude but reverent sons assembling, laid 
Us side by side within the cave — the same 

Dim cave that held us living — all arrayed 
As when in life. Then round about .they set 

Utensils of our dwelling, few but dear; 
Crude-shapen gods and beaded amulet, 

And in our hand the ready blade and spear ; 
That we might take our long untroubled rest, 

And, when the wakening came (foretold 
By haunting whispers of the secret breast), 

Arise again as in the days of old, 
Equipped and ready, even here perchance. 

Within the precints of our former home, 
Frequented paths to traverse, or advance 

To lands afar beyond the sunset foam. 
Long ages rolled away. Fierce tribes of men 

Abode and wandered near our lowly bed ; 
Succeeding monsters came and went again. 

And left their whitening bones above our head. 
But though the darkness had not wholly ceased, 

Though still we lay in silent restful sleep, 
No prying savage man nor prowling beast 

Profaned the chamber of our slumber deep. 
But now, when all with waking morning thrills, 

And shadows fleet are sweeping to the west, 



27 



A Blossom of the Sea 



When light is flushing all the eastern hills, 

Unhallowed hands have broken on our rest. 
The robe of clay, the panoply of dust 

That Nature for the soul immortal weaves, 
Is heartless left for every wandering gust 

To scatter widely as the Sibyl's leaves. 
Our graves their desecrating hands have marred. 

And stolen all the treasures prized in life — 
Our gods, the clustered beads, the flinty shard 

We shaped with toil to arrow-head or knife. 
Our bones they sever from enshrouding dust 

And for a curious, gaping crowd^ retain. 
Who in our eyes unfeeling fingers thrust. 

Explore the caverned hollow of the brain ; 
The wasted relics of our frame compare 

With those of ancient men of other lands, 
Or even brutes that grovel in a lair, 

Of mumbling, speechless lips and artless hands ; 
The lips that note of music never framed, 

That never trembling with emotion prayed, 
At rolling rhythmic numbers never aimed, 

Nor raptured throngs to thrilling passion swayed ; 
The hands that never planted, tilled a field, 

Nor built enduring shelter from the storm ; 
That never shaped a garment rude to shield 

From cold and chilling blast the shrinking form ; 
The hands that never scooped a hollow grave 

Nor reared memorial for a fallen mate ; 
The lips that never Sorrow comfort gave 

With whispered vision of immortal state ; 



28 



And Other Poems 



The lips that never mellow sweetness blew 

From sounding pipe amid the evening shade ; 
The hands that never lines of beauty drew, 

Nor with enwoven rainbow colors played : 
Dull brutes of thoughtless mind, as is their own, 

Who, looking merely at the outward shape 
And not the inward soul, so blind have grown 

They cannot tell the man from blinking ape. 
When comes the hour, ah, how shall we arise 

Equipped and ready for the mighty change? 
With what amaze shall we unclose our eyes 

'Mid stranger faces in a dwelling strange ! 
Our scattered relics to the grave restore, 

Replace the chaplet round the dreaming head, 
Pollute our sacred resting-place no more, — 

Will not the gods avenge the sleeping dead ? 
Are not the ashes of thy parents dear? 

What bitter anguish thine, shouldst thou behold 
A stranger rend the mound to grope, and peer 

For treasured keepsake 'mid their sacred mould, — 
From faded hair to loose the clasping band, 

The fallen eardrop from its dust to cull, 
To snatch the circlet from the fleshless hand. 

And set for ghastly show the grinning skull ! 
It makes the desecration none the less 

Because a score of centuries have flown. 
Because our sons may not the wrong redress, 

Who too have slumbered countless years unknown. 



29 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A granite tomb, whose ponderous iron gates 

Display thy gilded titles deep enscrolled, 
Upon a grassy slope of sunlight waits 

Thy chambered ashes ever safe to hold : 
But Time can cleave thy monumental stones 

And gnaw the massy iron bars to rust ; 
The sun may whiten yet thy scattered bones, 

And winds may strew the desert with thy dust. 
Our lowly chamber then no more profane, 

Restore to strengthless hand the precious blade. 
Here let the beaded chaplet still remain 

Upon the brow, by loving fingers laid ; 
Then smooth my bed and let me slumber on, 

My bride enfolded to my pulseless breast. 
And then when all that loved thee too are gone, 

Secure mayst thou in vaulted chamber rest. 



30 



And Other Poems 



SEMPER EADEM 

[/« the British Museum is the mumyny of a Utile princess ivith a 
n.vooden doll still clasped in her arms A 

TN THE DIMNESS of ages agone, 
1 Where the Nile water gHmmered and flowed, 
In a ponderous palace of stone 

A dusk little princess abode. 
Though gloomy and weird was the hall, 

And frowning the huge colonnade, 
A flutter of light seemed to fall 

Wherever the little one strayed. 
Her eyes had the darkness aglow 

And the love of the springing gazelle ; 
Her voice was a dream-brook aflow 

With an echo of silver-lipped bell. 
The maiden was nimble and fleet 

And graceful as moon-loving fay, 
The fall of her diligent feet 

As the patter of wind-fluttered spray. 
She flitted like bird unconfined 

Where columns colossal uprose, 
Where sad-featured sphinxes reclined 

In the strength of their stolid repose. 
And ever with dusk little arms 

A doll to her bosom she held, 
And murmured its manifold charms 

To the deaf granite monarchs of eld. 

31 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And oft as she prattled and played, 
A queen-mother's amorous eyes 

From dark drooping lashes betrayed 
A languorous gleam of surprise. 

Though pillared with ponderous stone, 

Yet Death through the palace gate crept ; 
At the touch of his magic unknown 

The maiden grew languid and slept. 
The queen-mother bent o'er the maid. 

Her dark lashes drooping with tears 
As the form she composed and arrayed 

For the silence and slumber of years. 
The doll she had loved and caressed 

And every heart-secret had told 
Was pillowed again on her breast, 

Enclasped with the fervor of old. 
One earth-love, at least, would be nigh. 

Though near her no mother might stand 
To answer her wakening cry 

In the halls of the Shadowy Land. 

The days have now lengthened to years. 

The years into ages have grown, 
The sphinx-guarded palace uprears 

No longer its masses of stone ; 
The huge, granite column sublime 

Is fallen or crumbled to naught ; 
But Ruin and ravaging Time 

No change in the sleeper have wrought. 



32 



And Other Poems 



She sleeps as she slumbered of old 

When she peacefully sank to her rest, 
And the dusk little fingers yet hold 

The mother's gift close to her breast. 
Does she wait for a low-whispered tone, 

The touch of a soft-resting hand, 
The pressure of lips on her own 

Ere she wake in the Shadowy Land ? 

O Sleeper of breathless repose, 

Thy slumber is restful and long, 
Thy lips will no secret disclose 

Of the Land where the Silences throng. 
Yet, speechless and still as thou art. 

Thou teachest that kingdoms may wane, 
But the longings and loves of the heart 

Forever unaltered remain. 
We must love : to the earthly we turn. 

For the earthly is near us and fair; 
In our heaven no joy we discern 

If the loved of the earth be not there. 
The heart, in all ages the same, 

Will worship at altars of clay, 
But shudder and shrink when the flame 

Has flickered and faded away. 
Forever the same is the heart, 

And firm and unshaken its trust 
That Death does not finally part. 

Nor man ever slumber in dust. 



33 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE QUEEN 



I SAW her when the midnight summons came 
That called her from a maiden's happy sleep 
To all the cares and glories of a throne, 
When, through the trembling tears, her eyes revealed 
Her childhood resolution ''to be good." 

I saw her at the bridal altar stand, 

Unfettered by "conveniences of State," 

And link her hand — where Love had linked her heart — 

To one whose heart made music to her own. 

Whose hand alike had skill in kindly deeds. 

I saw, when children played around her knee, 
She ne'er forgot the mother in the queen; 
But, in their busy simple ways of life, 
She taught their early lips her love of truth. 
Their feet the path to Duty and to God. 

I saw her when the sudden Herald came, 
Who claims the best from hut or princely hall. 
She bowed her queenly head in human woe, 
Then, unforgetful of the bitter smart, 
Resumed the doubled weight of life, alone. 



34 



And Other Poems 



I saw, from wider realm than ever bowed 

To ancient Rome in her imperial day, 

Her thronging sons assemble round her throne 

And, with a freeman's fervent homage, greet 

The peerless queen, who, thrice a score of years, 

Had built her surest empire in their hearts. 

They came from mapled slopes, from burning Ind, 

From Afric plain and ocean isles afar — 

Not terror-driven by a victor dread 

Whose chariot rims were dripping with the gore 

Of millions trampled under iron heels. 

But love-impelled by one that drew them nigh, 

As teacher of the gentle arts of peace. 

As model queen, who wore a mother's heart 

That beat or throbbed at human joy or woe. 

What marvel that the fount of feeling broke, 

And that her eyes with grateful tears were dim, 

To find the task of weary years approved 

By all the myriads of her ample realm ! 

I saw her when the reverent world stood hushed, 
And silent waited for the coming stroke 
That cleft the links of earth, and set her free 
To join the lost companion of her youth 
Who long had waited on the Hills of Morn. 

What richer meed has mortal ever won ? 
She leaves the realm the better for her reign. 
The home the purer for her blameless life, 



35 



A Blossom of the Sea 



The sceptre brighter for her stainless hand. 
The bell of Time has rung the hour of rest ; 
She calmly lays the robe and sceptre down 
And sinks to deep repose. Her task is done, 
Her childhood promise kept — she has been "good" 
The Lord has therefore given length of days. 
And now, when all the millions of the earth 
Have thrice approved the glories of her life, 
She fearless waits the judgment of her God. 



January, 1901. 



36 



And Othei^ Poems 



REX MORTUUS EST, TAMEN VIVIT 



** Blessed are the peacemakers , for they shall he 
called the children of God. " 



BUT LATE we bowed and wept his mother's loss; 
Too soon his feet have trod her way of death; 
His promise was to follow in her steps ; 
Too faithfully has he that promise kept 
And followed where her steps no more return. 
Achilles chose a short, eventful life, 
And sought and won his fame by warlike deeds : 
Eventful too and brief was Edward's reign, 
But he has won a richer meed of praise 
By wisely guiding hostile lands to sheathe 
The eager sword and doff the brazen helm. 
The only monarch since the dawn of Time 
To walk supreme and win the world's applause 
Yet be in thought and deed a Prince of Peace ; 
And therefore shall they call our Edward blest 
And name him with the children of our God. 

Britannia's ancient foe, ambitious Gaul, 
Won by his wise and gentle words, now stands 
Unhelmeted, a brother by her side. 
And he who wields an iron sceptre o'er 
The hosts diverse of Europe's widest realm 



S7 



A Blossom oj the Sea 



Abates his wrath at touch of Edward's hand. 
And even he whose restless spirit keeps 
In ferment Europe, seemingly has found 
In milder counsels truer wisdom lies, 
And holds in check his martial hosts awhile. 
The aHen foes that battled fierce and long 
On native veldt forget the bitter feud. 
And, yielding to his wish, unite and meet 
Where Boer and Briton counsel side by side. 
Won by his genial heart and proffered hand, 
Across the sea a kindred, once estranged, 
Warmed by the thrill of common Saxon blood. 
Revere a man that was a king indeed. 
And closer draw the bonds of brotherhood. 

The truest and the best beloved of kings 
Whether at home or in the realms abroad ; 
Preserver of all dignity and grace. 
Discreetly wise, discerning well the hour 
To speak, and speaking then the fitting word, 
Regardful of his office high, full well 
His dying lips may tell of duty done. 

Dwelling unrivaled in his people's hearts. 
He freely walked among his own, nor feared 
The stealthy dagger of a lurking foe. 
Above all faction strife exalted high 
He held the balance with an even hand ; 
Nor he the target for the bitter shafts 
Shot from the bows of venal pamphleteers. 



38 



And Other Poems 



Nor victim of the dastardly cartoons, 

Degrading to the office and the land, 

Subversive of respect and reverence. 

A democratic king that lived and thought 

And labored only for his people's good. 

Bowed with his weight of care, yet to the last 

Regardful of his duty — such a king, 

And such a reign, to all the world attest 

The wisdom, garnered for a thousand years. 

That reared on Britain's isle a stately throne 

And placed a sceptre in a kingly hand — 

The surest pledge of stable government ; 

A kingdom, yet a true democracy. 

Where, though the people rule, a king may reign 

And toil and serve all his allotted days. 

From graceful pine a pine alone can spring, 
From fragrant roses naught but roses grow — 
Son of a sire, as patron of the Arts 
And Sciences, beloved and honored yet 
Though half a busy century has fled. 
Son of a mother who, although a queen, 
Was yet a queen of mothers, who, in heart 
Snow-pure, kept all her court unstained — 
Of such a mother and of such a sire 
A worthy son has England's Edward been. 

The pledge he gave the nation he has kept ; 
He loved his own and loved them to the end. 
And for them labored to his latest breath. 



3(> 



A Blossom of the Sea 



No more can mortal claim than duty done. 
Man among men, king among kings he stood ; 
Now, summoned from us to a higher throne, 
He waits the judgment of the King of kings. 



4-0 



And Other Poems 



AMBITION AND PRAISE 

**/ charge thee Cromnvell, fling anjoay ambition. " 

AMBITION fling thou not away, 
Except the baser kind; 
Nay, rather strive to bring in play 

All virtues of thy mind. 
'Tis both the duty and the right 

Of every earnest man 
To mark afar the distant height 

And reach it if he can. 
Let not a talent buried lie; 

Swift follow Thought with Deed, 
For winged life is flitting by 

And instant is the need. 
Awaken every dormant power, 

Its fullest service give; 
Relax not till the latest hour. 

Life's every moment live. 
With dauntless energy of soul 

Each nerve unwearied strain 
To reach the very farthest goal 

Thy genius may attain. 
If thou outrun the foremost van, 

Relinquish not the strife; 



41 



A Blossom of the Sea 



For he is nearest perfect man 

That makes the most of Hfe. 
If honest Hps with praise reward 

Thy honest word or deed, 
Contemn it not, nor disregard, — 

Accept it as thy meed. 
Too seldom far a noble fame 

A noble life repays; 
Too many are the lips that blame, 

Too few that utter praise. 
If in our purer thoughts we trust 

Some merit God may see, 
The praises of the good or just 

Unfitting cannot be. 
Then seek deserts of honest worth 

By honest judgment given; 
Who wins the praises of the earth 

May win the praise of Heaven. 



March, 1900. 



42 



And Other Poems 



OUR CITY COUSIN 



SHE leaves the city dust and heat 
To walk among our meadows sweet, 
'Neath Gothic arms of elms to stray 

And couch amid the waving grass, 
To watch the lights and shadows play 

On dimpled waters as they pass, 
That hastening over pebbled ways 
In gurgling tones of gladness praise 
The circling grove of cedars cool 
That shade their home, the glassy pool. 

The morning clouds of changeful hue 
Were isles afloat in seas of blue. 
She saw afar in sunset sky, 

Enwrapt in soft and fleecy fold, 
The angel children dreaming lie 

On purple pillows fringed with gold; 
She saw the noontide shadows deep 
Like ghosts across the meadow sweep. 
And shining chargers swift pursue 
O'er hill and dale till lost to view. 

For her the winds in billows rolled 
Our ripened wheat as molten gold 



4-3 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Or lightly touched the crested oats 

That lay like level seas between, 
Or swayed each tasseled staif that floats 

On isles of maize the streamers green ; 
Our groves were homes for prayer and thought, 
Whose very hush and silence wrought 
A tone of sweetness never heard 
In fluted strain or spoken word. 

The minstrels of the dawn would meet 
To break with song her slumber sweet; 
The horses listen for her tread, 

And curve the glossy neck and stand 
With pointed ear and nostril spread 

To win caress of silken hand; 
The lowing kine assembled all 
When summoned by her ringing call, 
And gazed with dark and dreamy eyes 
Where love was mingled with surprise. 

The fruits and blossoms on the farm 
Had each for her a novel charm: 
The berry dwelt in hamlet green, 

With streets that wound in tangled maze, 
Where faces rose from leafy screen 

In clustered groups to peer and gaze; 
The sumach torches held aglow, 
The cherry bending branches low 
Extended tinted finger-tips 



44 



And Other Poems 



To dye in deeper red her lips. 
The vine a leafy hammock hung 
By airy finger lightly swung; 
To catch her gown the roses leant, — 

Their clinging hands her step delayed, 
But while the head in blushes bent^ 

The honeyed lip excuses made; 
A fairy music seemed to dwell 
In Morning Glory's swinging bell, 
And snowy lilies of the shade 
In tiny tones a tinkling made. 

Yet amply too the city maid 
The country cheer to us repaid ; 
Her motions had the airy grace 

And fleetness of the woodland fawn; 
A light seemed breaking o'er her face 

That promised ever brighter dawn ; 
The touches of her dainty hand 
Had magic of a wizard's wand, 
For where her busy fingers wrought 
They all to ordered beauty brought. 

To ornament our barren rooms 
Her pencil imaged clustered blooms. 
Or dreamy, shadow-haunted nooks 

Where dusky twilight ever dwells, 
Or grassy banks and winding brooks 

Where herds had hushed their clanging bells. 



45 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Her dainty fingers garments shaped 
In simple, artful beauty draped, 
Where needle traced the graceful line 
Of tinted leaf and trailing vine. 



When softly glowed the twilight star 

She told us tales of lands afar, 

Or sang us songs that hushed the heart 

To all the calm of eventide. 
In low, rich tones, till tears would start 

That smiling lip could hardly hide ; 
And when the keys her fingers swept, 
Such rapture o'er our senses crept 
That in our dreams the tones we heard 
Of tinkling rill and piping bird. 



Or oft some ballad would she read 
That prompted breast to noble deed; 
Or lyric lay of sweet content 

That made some lowly heart divine; 
Yet to the thought her reading lent 

An added charm to every line ; 
For when she read and when she sung, 
A richness dwelt upon her tongue 
That every bosom thrilled and stirred 
To rapture at the poet's word. 



46 



And Other Poems 



She sat where orchard gold and shade 
Upon her loosened tresses played — 
The tree took from its yellow hoard 

An apple which the fragrant sap 
With treasures of a year had stored, 

And flung it lightly in her lap — 
Then I who loved her dearly too, 
My offering of devotion threw, 
A heart with true affection rife, 
The gathered treasures of my life. 

And thus the cheery city maid 
Has in our country cottage stayed; 
For here beside me now she stands, 

My bride of twenty years ago: 
There still is magic in her hands, 

As I and all the neighbors know; 
Their touch is balm for every pain 
Of saddened heart or fevered brain, 
They still can deftly touch the string 
Or home to ordered beauty bring. 

The sounds and sights upon the farm 
For her have never lost their charm : 
For mystic notes pervade the air 

And o'er the quiet spirit steal, 
And forms of beauty everywhere 

Their ever changing shades reveal ; 
The herds at pasture each and all 



47 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Will come in answer to her call, 
And fondly still around her press 
To share her silken hand's caress. 

And all the neighbors feel as well 

Her presence casts a fairy spell: 

Like hers, have grown their dwellings bright ; 

Serener shines the morning sun. 
And Duty feels the burden light 

When Beauty's feet before her run; 
A purer ray the breast inflames 
With sweeter joys and higher aims; 
Their fruitful lands a charm disclose 
And bud and blossom as the rose. 



48 



And Other Poems 



A CHILD'S QUESTION 

MOTHER, tell me what is death,'' 
Said my little maid to-day, 
Coming from a neighbor home 
Where her playmate silent lay. 

''When we die, we journey far 
Past remotest shining star. 
Onward to a distant gate 
Where eternal mansions wait." 

"Mother, tell me what is death. 

Bertha is not gone away. 
For I saw her clad in flowers 
Lying on her couch to-day." 

"Death is like a slumber deep 
When the weary soundly sleep, 
Where no passing vision stands 
Haunting with its shadow hands." 

"Mother, tell me what is death — 

Bertha is not sleeping now; 
She is cold, and did not wake 
When I bent and kissed her brow." 
"Long that slumber is and deep ; 
Ere she wakens from her sleep 
In the arms of earth she must 
Mingle with her kindred dust." 



49 



A Blossom of the Sea 



"Mother, tell me what is death. 

If in dust my Bertha lies, 
How can she awake or dwell 
Far beyond the glowing skies?" 

''Bertha's form alone will sleep: 
This will earth enfolding keep; 
But her soul is gone afar 
Past remotest shining star." 

"Mother, tell me what is death. 
More and more obscure it grows. 

What is this you call the soul? 
Tell me where and how it goes." 

"Child, I know not what is death. 
Bosom void of heaving breath — 
Changeless pallor of the cheek — 
Hueless lips that will not speak — 
Hands that clasp not as of old — 
Lids that nevermore unfold. 
These I see, but cannot tell 
How is wrought the sudden spell. 

"What we mortals call the soul 
Comprehends no human mind; 

Best we know its presence here 
From the blank it leaves behind. 

O the transformation vast 

When the viewless guest has passed. 

Taking all that wins and thrills. 
Dimpling blush and warm caress, — 



50 



And Other Poems 



Leaving what repels and chills, 
Pallor, cold and nothingness. 

"All the noble, great and good 

Since the dawning hour of Time, 
All the hordes in homeless wood, 

Arctic wild or torrid clime. 
In the lonely silent hour 
When this viewless guest has power 
Faintly hear an inner voice, 

Constant as a distant wave. 
Whisper of an endless life 

And a land beyond the grave. 

"In the silent midnight hour, 

When the things of sense depart, 
When the inward listening ear 

Hears the beating of the heart. 
In the hush I too have heard 
Solemn tone and mystic word 
Chanted by the hidden guest 
In the chamber of my breast. 

"I, upon the summit won 

In our struggling slow advance. 
Through the mist of elder days 

Turn and cast a backward glance. 
Down the pathways of the Past 

Comes the beating tramp of men 
Sweeping o'er the levels vast, 

Thronging mountain steep and glen 



51 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Ruddy youth with sturdy tread, 
Wrinkled age with bowing head, 
Ordered hosts and scattered hordes, 
Pressing to the fatal fords. 
Though they shudder, pause and shrink, 
Yet, when trembling on the brink, 
All expectant look before 
For the viewless father shore. 
Whence, perchance, a distant gleam 
Breaks afar across the stream. 

"Since through all the maze of years 

From the early dawn of Time, 
Crouching slave and sceptered lord, 

Born of every age and clime, — 
Since the millions of the past 

Have, until their latest breath, 
Trusted in a world that lies 

Just beyond the fords of death, — 
Since I hear this inward voice 

Whisper of the life to be, — 
Since to every mortal born 

Comes the whisper as to me, — 
I believe the soul exists, 

Though its form I cannot see; 
I believe in world afar, 
Past remotest shining star. 
But, my maiden, what is death, 

What the misty waters hide. 
You nor I shall ever know 

Till we cross the darkened tide." 



52 



And Other Poems 



ON A DOG BURIED IN HIS MASTER'S CLOAK 



ME, WHEN yet the dawning light 
Scarce had broken on my sight, 
Clad in sable silken coat, 

Home my future master bore : 
Snowy ermine at my throat, 

Glossy, wavy locks I wore. 
When, of playful kin bereaved, 
I with plaintive whimper grieved, 
Loving tone and soft caress 
Banished all my loneliness. 

Him to love I early learned, 

For his constant presence yearned; 

Swift his bidding I obeyed, 

Fetched and carried at command. 
Amply happy if repaid 

With caresses from his hand. 
Watchful o'er his little child. 
All his infant cares beguiled — 
Winter cold nor summer heat 
Ever stayed my willing feet. 

Trusty guardian I lay 

Near his portal night and day. 



53 



A Blossom of the Sea 



When his coming step I heard 
With a hearty welcome hied, 
Never missing kindly word, 
Pacing proudly at his side. 
For he loved me living; shed 
Tears of pity o'er me dead. 
In his mantle close enrolled 
Here I slumber in the mould. 

Earnest mortal pause and ask, 
"Hast thou done thy Master's task? 
Hast thou kept His home, thy heart, 

Safely guarded night and day? 
Listened for His tread, to dart 

Forth to meet Him on the way? 
Hast thou on His errands fared, 
For His feeble children cared? 
Then, in mantle from His breast 
Closely folded thou shalt rest." 

December, 1898. 



54 



And Other Poems 



A VIEW OF DEATH 

WITHIN a vale of darksome depths, where rolled 
A maze of cloudy vapor, foul and dank, 
I met a shadow pale. Beneath the cold 
And steely terror of his gaze I shrank; 
A winter chilled the chamber of my heart; 

I trembled at his cruel, threatening brow 
And fleshless fingers poising jagged dart; 

I cried with hollow voice, "Oh, what art thou?" 

"Men call me Death," the pallid spectre said, 
"And all their fear and horror may devise. 

At my approach they shudder in their dread ; 

And yet I am a friend, though in disguise. 
I take the aged when the eye is dim 

To all the charms of earth, when dull the ear 
To all its wondrous music, when the Hmb 

No more the shaking form may bear, when dear 
And tender friends have wandered now 

Adown the vale of years beyond recall; 
I close awhile the eye, the wrinkled brow 

I smooth to restful peace, and bear them all 
To waken tearless in the Happy Isles 

Where skies are cloudless blue, where ceaseless flow 
The fountains of immortal youth, and smiles 

Of greeting come from friends of long ago. 



5S 



A Blossom of the Sea 



"Steel-sinewed men, hard toiling at their task 

From dawn to dark, till shoulders bend and bow 
As though with weight of years, and wrinkles mask 

With stolid lines the youthful lip and brow. 
Who see no dawning through the darkness loom, 

Nor ever star a transient gleaming throw 
Upon the desert, black, devoid of bloom, 

Where Youth is endless toil, and Age is woe, — 
These oft I bear away on sudden wing, 

And in a moment ope their weary eyes 
On lands of rest and blossoms sweet, that bring 

The glow and gladness of a first surprise. 



"The happy maiden, flushed with joy and health, 

While loving friends unnumbered round her throng, 
Whose path is strewn with all the gifts of Wealth 

And brightened with the strains of morning song, 
I still to sleep with perfumed opiate, 

Afar convey on noiseless pinion swift. 
Where at the parted agate portal wait 

The daughters of the angels. As they lift 
The veils of slumber from her dreaming face, 

They kiss her lip and cheek to wonted glow, 
Unloose her braided hair, then interlace 

Her form with twining arms, and straying go, 
In converse low, across the happy fields, 

By drooping waters, opal-palaced streams. 
And pathways of a paradise that yields 

A joy beyond the fairest of our dreams. 



56 



And Other Poems 



"The pure, unblemished blossom, angel-borne 

From gardens of our God, — before the fire 
Of noon has blighted, or the blast has torn, 

Or heedless feet have crushed it in the mire 
Till tender head may nevermore uplift, 

Nor slender stem, nor waxen petals fair, 
But blacken into shapeless dust and drift, — 

I raise and back to Heaven's garden bear. 
The babe, whose lips but lisp the early word, 

Upon the gateway verge of garnet stands 
With fair white feet, — the curls of amber stirred 

By nectared winds, the little beck'ning hands 
Outstretched, the eyes expectant peering through 

A depth of blue less clear than is their own. 
It sends a voice — the earthly voice, yet, too, 

Enriched and sweetened to a seraph tone — 
Far past the shining flight of floating spheres, 

In ever fainting echoes ringing on. 
Until at last the list'ning mother hears 

The pleading call as in the days agone. 
And lifts her eyes, long drooped and drowned with 
tears. 

In glad surprise, and comes wfth willing feet 

Her child among the garden walks to meet 
And share the gladness of the endless years." 

I raised my eyes. The valley depths were bright 
With all the glory of a springing dawn; 

I saw a shining Angel of the Light, 

Whose hand had just the veil of Heav'n withdrawn. 



57 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE DESERTED HOUSE 



MY FRIEND'S deserted home I passed 
The portal wide was open thrown, 
Across the threshold snows were blown 
And heaped by every vagrant blast; 
Within, a dainty hand had cast 
A counterpane of whitest wool 
And eider pillows fluffed and full. 

Ah ! once from out that open door 

My friend came hasting forth to meet 
The faintest murmur of my feet. 

I here shall see her face no more ; 

Her bark is launched to reach a shore 

Whence, of the myriads that have crossed, 

None re-embark, or all are lost. 

They sail a never-changing tide 
That ever ebbs but never flows, 
Where never wind but outward blows, 

Where inbound vessels never ride. 

As far in misty glooms they glide 

We gaze with unavailing tears 

And sighs that never reach their ears. 



58 



And Other Poems 



But whither flows the changeless tide, 
And whither blows the steady gale, 
What seas unknown their barks may sail, 
What isles of green they have descried. 
The misty glooms forever hide 
From us, who watch, our vision strain 
To pierce the blinding mist, in vain. 

Why may they not recross the stream? 
Why never comes returning sail 
To bear our yearning hearts the tale 
Of lands whereof we catch a gleam 
But far and faint? Or, do we dream 
Of shady groves and fragrant leas 
On restful isles in summer seas? 

And does the onward current sweep 
Their vessels to the sudden verge 
Of yawning swirls of foaming surge 
And shroud them in Lethean deep? 
Or, do they, ever homeless, creep 
O'er seas unknown and ever tossed. 
In blinding glooms perplexed and lost? 

O'erhung by clouds without a rift. 
Embarking in a shallop frail 
With unaccustomed oar and sail, . 
Amid the mists that never lift 
Must each adown the current drift : 



50 



A Blossom of the Sea 



No lip shall else the secret learn, 
What lies beyond no eyes discern. 

Her bark perchance hath cleft the gloom 
And, sliding into purple sea, 
Hath touched a land of level lea 
And limpid stream, where planets loom 
O'er palm-empillared banks of bloom: 
She there, as erst, beside the gate 
May now my early coming wait. 

What beacon then shall thither guide? 
For if alone, when I embark, 
I ever thread the maze of dark 
And never, never reach her side, — 
If I with her may not abide, 
I care not what abyss may keep 
Me whelmed forgotten fathoms deep. 



60 



And Other Poems 



TO MIRIAM 



I. 



O DAINTY, fairy Miriam, 
I cannot deem thee gone. 
But as of old thy loving heart 
To neighbor dwelling drawn. 

Awaiting here thy swift return 

I hear thy tripping feet, 
I see thy glad uplifted eyes 

Aglow with welcome sweet. 

In vain, alas, in vain I wait 

And long thy face to see. 
For thou to me wilt not return, 

But I shall go to thee. 

If He that holds of Life and Death 

The keys in loving hands 
Should open wide the shining gates 

Where each in glory stands. 

And freely offer me the choice 

To leave or take at will, 
My heart would leap to claim its own 

My heart is human still. 



6i 



A Blossom of the Sea 



11. 



Within thy distant mansion dwell 
No kindred thou hast known, 

And all its unfamiliar ways 
Thy feet must tread alone. 

O mother, in that world afar 
Long entered on thy rest, 

Whose whisper dried my early tear 
When cradled on thy breast, 

O meet my lonely little one 
In yonder world of bliss, 

Bestow on her the care and love 
Thou gavest me in this. 

O take her by the little hand 

So often laid in mine, 
And guide her unaccustomed feet 

To meet the Friend divine. 



III. 

I wonder where thy home may be 

In yonder realm afar; 
I see thee bask on rosy cloud, 

Or peer from limpid star. 



62 



And Othei^ Poems 



I see the imprint of thy feet 

In every glowing sky 
Thy whisper hear in every breeze 

That steals reluctant by. 

In every note of piping bird 
That greets the flushing dawn 

I hear again the cheery tones 
Of happy days agone. 

And when by evening's cooling breath 
My troubled brow is fanned, 

I feel again the mute caress 
Of lingering loving hand. 

Dost thou, as ever, hover near 
To comfort hearts that grieve? 

Or do again my erring sense 
And yearning breast deceive? 

IV. 

What new and dainty beauties now 
Thy heart and hand employ, 

That found in pretty things of earth 
Their one enduring joy? 

Dost thou frequent the fragrant meads 
Where freshest blooms abound, 

And garlands weave on shadowed banks 
By rills of dreamy sound? 



63 



A Blossom of the Sea 



What rapture and surprise are thine 

Amid the ardent throng, 
When breaks on thy delighted ear 

The primal seraph song? 

Are yet thy darHng lips attuned 

To chant the glad refrain, 
Or do they still a note reveal 

Of earthly love and pain? 

Dost thou ne'er come when wide the gates 

Their crystal bars unfold 
And earthward cast a longing glance 

To all the loved of old? 



V. 



I cannot deem with earthly days 

Thy little life is o'er. 
That all thy gentle, pretty ways 

Are lost forevermore. 

Though Science teach that future life 

Is but a yawning void, 
It still maintains whate'er exists 

May never be destroyed. 

If energy can never cease, 

But merely suffer change. 
This fettered life may find release 

And wider regions range. 



64 



And Other Poems 



Though flame extinguished by the blast 

To us may seem to die, 
Its vital breath has only passed 

To mingle with the sky. 

Though broken stem and withered leaf 

May lie upon the ground, 
The flower's fragrant soul has fled 

Beyond the azure round. 

The taper by the breath outblown 

May be relit again; 
The wave upborne on vapor wings 

May redescend in rain. 

Then rob me not of that wherein 

My only comfort lies, — 
That life shall find a fuller life 

Beyond the morning skies. 

If this my dearest hope be vain, 

If earthy life be all, 
Then hasten, Death, to dim my lamp 

And drop thy darkest pall. 

VL 

Canst thou with new immortal powers 
Thy fuller Hfe has brought 

Outspeed the lightnings of the sun, 
Outwing the fleetest thought? 



65 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Canst thou explore the bounds of space, 

Or sweep the planet's round, 
Unveil the dim remotest sphere 

In azure deeps profound? 

Canst thou with clearness comprehend, 

Unclogged by mortal breath, 
The hidden mysteries of Life, 

This darker one of Death? 

Canst thou discern how Earth and Heaven 

Are linked by viewless chain, 
And yet thy early entrance there 

Can rend this heart with pain ? 



VIL 

What constitutes the lasting joy 

Of thy abode supreme 
Whose bliss eternal so transcends 

Our wildest mortal dream? 

Does he that moulds the flaming sphere, 
And wheels it through the sky, 

Unaided shape the silken bud 
And blend its dainty dye? 

Or, since the busy hand alone 

Can here enjoyment find, 
Has He each reawakened soul 

A fitting task assigned? 



66 



And Other Poems 



Who drapes in mist the mountain's brow 

Or swathes in purple fold? 
Who piles aloft the castled clouds 

And builds their roofs of gold? 

What hand directs the reinless winds 
Or guides the maddened storms? 

Who flings to earth the floating flakes 
And braids their crystal forms ? 

Who shapes the seed and heaps the store 

About its tiny germ, 
And re-awakes its dormant life 

At the appointed term ? 

Who guides the upward growth to grace, 
The snow-lipped chalice moulds, 

And pours into the luscious deeps 
Empurpled pinks and golds? 

To me the violet of the grove 

Is dearer for the thought 
With dainty touch thy spirit hands 

Its beauties may have wrought. 

All tasks may reach accomplishment 

In such serene employ. 
Where Death no more may still the hand 

Nor Time its works destroy ; 



67 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Where brooding Thought has ample scope 

And undisturbed retreat; 
Where string of lute is never broke 

Nor song left incomplete. 



VIII. 

There's not a leisured moment wings 

This realm of Time across 
But on its passing pinions brings 

Reminders of thy loss. 

I miss thee when the wings of Dawn 

Their glory flashes fling, 
That brought thy step and morning kiss, 

And nevermore will bring. 

And when around the evening board 
Our heads are bowed in prayer, 

I miss the Httle earnest lips 

That named "Our Father" there. 

I miss thee when the clouds of gloom 

O'erdarken as the night, 
And through involving darkness breaks 

No single beam of light; 

When up to brazen skies I lift 

In vain my pleading eyes. 
When even God seems dead, or deaf 

To all my pleading cries. 



68 



And Other Poems 



IX. 

I find in this a kind of strength 

My sorrow to endure: 
That He that gave thee pure at first 

Received thee back as pure ; 

That o'er the tender HHed meads 

Thy path has ever lain, 
And dusts of earth upon thy feet 

Have left no evil stain ; 

That o'er thy little silent breast 
The grasses grow so green; 

That Autumn drops so gently down 
Her tinted leafy screen ; 

That passing winds of Winter hush 
Their wails to whispers low, 

And spread with tender, silent hands 
Their softest veils of snow; 

That o'er the Hills of Morning, Spring 
Will steal with noiseless tread. 

And wreathe in vine and violet 
Thy little lonely bed; 

That far beyond the Hills of Morn 

Thou dost expectant wait 
To greet me with thy wonted joy 

When coming soon or late. 



69 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE SNOW 

ALL DAY leaden vapors had lowered, 
The wind whistled dismal and low, 
Till mingled with Night's darkest pinions 
Came swirling the white-winged snow. 

The lingering blossoms of summer, 
The last and the latest that bloomed. 

Their Hps with the life-flushes tinted, 
The quick with the dead were entombed. 

The vine that imploringly lifted 
Meek hands to the pitiless skies, 

Where deepest the billows are drifted. 
Low-buried and smothering lies. 

The leaf that had flaunted defiant 
Its flag in the face of the blast, 

All stained with its heart-blood is lying 
Enshrouded and silent at last. 

There clovers and delicate mosses 
In whitest of cerements are wound. 

But oh, unto my heart the dearest 
Is one little turf-woven mound. 

For there under late-growing grasses, 
Where evergreen branches droop low, 

With hands laid to rest on her bosom 
My darling sleeps under the snow. 



70 



And Other Poems 



WHITBY LADIES* COLLEGE 

LO A DREAM of stately beauty 
Stands upon a gentle height 
Where a gleam of azure waters 

Never fades upon the sight. 
In the hush of moonlit splendor 

Echoes faint the ear will reach 
As the feet of busy breakers 

Patter on the pebbled beach. 
Thence the early morning breezes 

Fan a freshness from their wings, 
And the shadow-mantled evening 

Such a grateful coolness brings 
That to eye it gives a lustre 

And to lip a ruddy wealth, 
While the cheek of Beauty flushes 

With the glow of perfect health. 
Where it crowns the pleasant hilltop, 

Where its halls in slumber lie 
First the Angels of the Morning 

From their glowing mansions fly ; 
On its ample roofs alighting 

They their shining pinions fold 
While they deck it as an altar 

In the richest "cloth of gold." 
As their jeweled hands are draping 

Window, parapet and wall. 



71 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Flying glints and gleams of glory 

On the lawn in flashes fall, — 
Veils, of quivering threads enwoven, 

From their amber chambers brought. 
Shimmering on the grassy carpet, 

Velvet-green and pearl-enwrought — 
Hands of Midas, softly touching 

Maples lifting lofty heads 
Till a gold of mellow radiance 

All their branches overspreads. 
Long the sun of evening lingers. 

And with love his fingers rest 
As he flames it with a glory 

Ere he leaves the ruddy West. 
When the night is o'er it bending 

Then a paler splendor falls 
That in folds of silk and silver 

Wraps the silence of the walls, 
Flinging flecks of light and shadow 

Where each faithful sentry stands 
Clad in Lincoln green, and pointing 

With his warning taper hands, 
Where the stealthy winds have stolen 

'Mid the sleepers on the lawn. 
Blossom breasts of hoards to rifle 

Treasured for the crimson Dawn. 

In this pleasant mansion Learning 
Stands in waiting to unfold 

All the treasures that the ages 
In their ample temples hold : 



72 



And Other Poems 



Art, with dainty brush and palette, 

And with heaven-lifted face, 
Stands expectant, fleeting shadows 

In unfading lines to trace ; 
Music waits, with skilful finger 

Ready laid upon the string, 
Magic floods of melting rapture 

On the fragrant air to fling; 
Here Devotion walks with Duty, 

And the mind is early taught 
That we find the highest pleasure 

In the world of Work and Thought. 

Blessings on the heart that planned it 

And the hand that wrought it well. 
For in halls of beauty only 

Should the form of Beauty dwell. 
Where she walks the way of Wisdom 

Art and Nature both should meet, 
And assembling all their treasure 

Lay the off'ring at her feet. 
These will mould her heart to beauty. 
And the heart will mould the face, 
And a mind and soul accordant 

Give the form an added grace. 
Till her life shall beam with beauty 

And the happy world divine 
That the forms are ever fairest 

That the fairest soul enshrine. 
1897. 



73 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A BLOSSOM OF THE SEA 



THE trampling hosts had come, and all the night 
In massive squadrons clad in gleaming steel, 
With waving flags and tossing plumes of white, 

Had rushed with thousand thundering feet, and peal 
Of demon laughter, on the giant rocks 

That stood in stern array, in harness black. 
Unyielding met the oft-repeated shocks 

And hurled them reeling, rearing, plunging back. 
Above the battle's deafening roar and crash 

Loud shrieks and muttered groans arose 
As every rolling rank would onward dash 

But fall and flounder at the feet of foes. 

The beaten hosts confusedly withdrew. 

Defeated as in myriad fights before, 

But scattering, fled to gather strength anew, 
And left the stolid victors on the shore. 

Aside the moon her floating curtain bound 
And peered in silence at the fleeing host. 

With silver tipped each tattgred crest, and crowned 
In gleaming helms the guardians of the coast. 

The morning came. His early beams looked down 
On wearied chargers deep with crimson dyed. 

And giants grim who still with sullen frown, 
And brow with purple gashed, the foe defied. 



74 



And Other Poems 



The storm had ceased. Around the sheltered bay 

The Httle town awoke again to Hfe, 
And many a snowy canvas swept away 

Across the waves yet angry from their strife. 
The fishermen beheld on every side 

The wreckage of some stranded ship afloat ; 
The broken masts were scattered far and wide, 

And, helpless on the waves, a tossing boat. 
The surges to and fro their burden rolled — 

A wounded sailor, down unconscious cast. 
Whose hands yet clenched the broken oars that told 

Of desperate struggle with the frenzied blast. 
A mother, too, whose lifeless arms embraced 

A babe that slumbered snugly wrapped and warm. 
About whose form her garments she had placed 

And left her own half-naked to the storm. 
The fishermen in breathless wonder gazed, 

Then, turning, quickly drew the boat to land, 
And, stooping low, the senseless beings raised 

And bore them home with tender, loving hand. 



The babe uninjured from its dream awoke ; 

But not its prattle, nor the kisses pressed 
By baby lips, nor touch of baby fingers, broke 

The silent slumber of the mother's breast. 
Nor e'er returned the sailor's consciousness ; 

But oft he rose, when tossing in his pain, 
And cheered the mother in her deep distress, 

Then fiercely fought his battle o'er again. 



75 



A Blossom of the Sea 



At last, as o'er the ocean broke the day, 

He started from his couch in wild surprise 
And shouted, ''Land !" then lifeless sank and lay 

With look of rest and gladness in his eyes. 
The people gathered from the village round — 

Their bronzed faces wet with streaming tears — 
And laid them where had risen many a mound 

For ocean victims in the passing years. 



O kindly is the Sea when skies are fair, 

And slumber all the passions of the breast; 
The sailor's bark in love he seems to bear 

To summer-harbored, fragrant isles of rest. 
Then cradled in his softly swaying arms 

One evermore in dreamy bliss may lie, 
Where not a breath e'er startles or alarms 

The drowsy cloud slow floating in the sky. 
O cheering is the Sea when breezes fill 

The sweUing sail and fling the whirling spray 
And send through every tingling nerve a thrill, 

As glides the vessel swiftly on her way. 
O cruel and inconstant is the Sea : 

When rage and frenzy swell his savage breast. 
He tosses high, down dashes ruthlessly 

What he so late had cradled and caressed. 
With Giant hands the creaking mast he bends 

And smites with mighty blows the shrinking ships, 
Their bruised and battered sides he rudely rends 

With savage howl and frenzy-foaming lips ; 



76 



And Other Poems 



Or drives them crashing on the craggy shore 
And shatters them with oft-repeated shocks, 

As with defiant shout and demon roar 

He tramples out their life among the rocks. 

Though oft they sought among the towns around, 

Inquiries none about the mother came. 
But on the garment of the child they found, 

By skilful fingers broidered there, a name. 
The name was "Baby Jessie" ; and no more 

The little lips could tell; nor ascertained 
They whence the vessel stranded on their shore ; 

And so the orphan child with them remained. 
Though loving memories in her bosom slept, 

And in her dreams a presence lingered long, 
In time the lonely one no longer wept 

For mother's kiss and mother's cradle song. 
For Helen Bain, whose heart dwelt in her face, 

Had taken Baby Jessie as her own. 
And soon her winning way and girlish grace 

Had made her well in every cottage known. 
From her they named her ^'Jessie Bain" ; but oft 

When breezes, racing o'er the waves in glee. 
Had flushed her rounded cheek with tinting soft, 

The little maid was "Blossom of the Sea." 

With merry feet she tripped through Babyland, 
Where all is bright to new-awakened eyes 

That see the beauties fresh on every hand 
Beneath the glow of yet unclouded skies ; 



77 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Where every breeze a fragrant burden brings 
From laden blooms that, glowing, never fade, 

And every note is flung from gleeful strings 
Where Sorrow's languid hand was never laid. 



In Childhood Land she ran with nimble feet 

Her little busy round of school and play — 
A bee that everywhere was gathering sweet 

And storing by against the future day. 
Glad-footed years went swiftly ghding by, 

And silent wove the veils they ever cast 
O'er all the fair and lovely forms that lie 

Enshrined by memory in the shrouded past. 
Till, one by one, a filmy mantle hides 

Or dims them all. Years flitted till she stood 
Upon the verge where Childhood's pathway glides 

Unconscious into that of Womanhood. 
The Springs of coming womanhood had told, 

The Summers tinged her cheek with bloom of rose, 
The Autumns on her tresses left their gold, 

The Winters bathed her brow in purest snows. 
The dwellers in the woodland where she strayed 

Were joyous when they spied her drawing near 
And freely yielded to the rambling maid 

Whatever treasure each regarded dear ; — 
The lily gave her form its slenderness. 

The ripple lent her voice its music sweet, 
The breezes touched her locks with fond caress 

And whispered of their lightly-treading feet. 



78 



And Other Poems 



These fisher people rugged features wore, 

For generations bronzed by wind and spray, 
And shoulders bent and broadened by the oar 

Their sturdy arms had wielded day by day. 
With speeding years they saw the maiden now 

Resemble more and more that slender form 
With cloud of golden hair and angel brow 

That saved her babe but perished in the storm. 
To them this cheek 'mid apple blossoms born, 

This eye that beamed with blue of heaven's dome, 
These streaming locks like early rays of morn, 

This breast and brow as white as tossing foam. 
This loving heart where gifts and treasures rare 

Were in profusion lavish known to lie, — 
To them she seemed a creature of the air — 

A blossom born beneath no earthly sky. 



Companion in her play was Willie Brown. 

Beside the boats together on the shore 
They chased the seaward wave swift fleeting down 

The smooth hard sand ; then shrieked and ran before 
The wave that, turning, laughed in tones subdued 

And stole behind them silently and fleet, 
Or clapped its hands, and oft so close pursued 

Its fingers touched their bare and flying feet. 
They heaped up mimic mounds, outhollowed wells. 

Of chosen pebbles little mansions made 
For which the busy sea brought shining shells 

In blending tints of pink and white arrayed. 



79 



A Blossom of the Sea 



The schoolhouse with its Httle busy world 

Lay nestHng in a closely sheltered nook, 
Where elms at noon their shadow flags unfurled 

And flung the fluttering folds upon the brook 
That, slumbering, seemed in sleepy tones to mock 

The stolen whisper soft, and droning din, 
And — pattering down some tiny shelf of rock — 

The clatter of the buzzing world within. 
There side by side the twain together went, 

Their trials and their triumphs daily shared; 
With earnest brow in thoughtful posture bent 

They day by day the little tasks prepared. 

When older grown, the hunger of the mind 

They fed with few but treasured books, possessed 
Among the village homes, and woke refined 

And holy thoughts that slumbered in the breast. 
A fount of pleasure here they found from which 

They daily draughts of rarest rapture drew : 
And as they drained each goblet, nectar-rich,. 

More precious to the lip the fountain grew. 

The lithest lad was he on all the coast: 

No arm more skilful bending oar to wield, 
No bolder heart the little town could boast 

To gather harvest from the azure field. 
O'er placid forehead locks were idly thrown 

Where ebon hand had penciled wavy lines 
And glossy curves, as when the billow blown 

Through lighted gloom in dusky lustre shines. 

80 



And Other Poems 



Dark eyes he had, where darting flashes oft 

The fiery radiance of his soul revealed; 
But oftener still they shone with lustre soft 

Of twilight star in vapor half concealed. 
Lips thin and firm o'er face of manly mould 

An air of dauntless resolution threw; 
But yet a something lingered there that told : 

The loving heart of tender depths and true. 

Two meadow rills that wander side by side, 

By sun lips kissed, by shadow hands caressed, 
Together imperceptibly will glide 

And flow united with unruffled breast; 
Two twinkling drops on petal of the rose 

May lie and sparkle in the morning sun, 
But at the breath of lightest breeze that blows 

Will touch and kiss and tremble into one. 
Thus day by day their lives were seen to ghde. 

And thus at last together seemed to run; 
But they so long had wandered side by side 

That neither knew when heart was lost or won. 
They never thought their paths could separate, 

For all their lives had they together been: 
This seemed but as the opening of a gate 

That led to wider world and newer scene. 

Low circling hills around the village lay. 

Where fell the earliest beams of morning sun 
A humble home had risen day by day 

By thrifty hand from spoil of ocean won. 

81 



A Blossom of the Sea 



It looked upon the little bay, the bar, 

And, far away, upon the tumbling main, 
Where she might spy his coming bark afar 

On eager wings to enter home again. 
There many an idle hour they strayed and planned 

A lowly bower or bed of roses bright; 
For now approached the day when hand and hand 

And heart and heart forever would unite. 



To save the maiden from a needless pain 

Her early sorrow all had been concealed; 
But now had come the hour when Helen Bain 

The story of her early life revealed. 
Astounded at the revelation strange, 

She all with many an eager question plied. 
The current of her life it seemed to change 

And cast a pall of darkness on its tide. 
She wore an air of thoughtful quietness. 

In former hopes of life no pleasure took, 
But sought the woodland breeze of soft caress 

And whispered song of shadow-checkered brook. 
She often wandered on the lonely shore 

And pictured all the sadness of the scene; 
And oft they found her when the day was o'er 

Yet sitting by the nameless mound of green, 
Where fancy strove some image in her mind 

Of that devoted mother's face to frame 
Who died to save her child, yet left behind 

Not e'en the cherished memory of her name. 



82 



And Other Poems 



There many a secret tear in silence fell, 

And there was many a wildwood flower strewn ; 

Nor did she him forget who fought so well 
For that dead mother's life and for her own. 

One evening, as she lingered here apart, 

A stranger strolling through the village came. 
Who, pausing by her with a sudden start, 

Her features closely scanning, begged her name. 
She told him, and his wonder more increased. 

**A Jessie knew I, and so like to thee 
At first I deemed thee her, — if not, at least 

Her child. But, nay, for this can never be : 
The wife I loved, the baby that was mine. 

The sea has torn away with cruel Jiands 
And hid them deep in dismal depths of brine, 

Or tossed them lifeless on the nameless sands." 

He told his tale in broken words and low : 

"With Jessie Gray, my newly wedded bride, 
I left this land but twenty years ago, 

To seek a home beyond the ocean wide. 
There Love and Fortune on our dwelling smiled. 

Five years had passed when Jessie longed to see 
Her native land again. She took her child — 

Whose name was Jessie too — a babe of three — 
And sailed. No tidings came with passing years, 

Save that the ship and all aboard were lost. 
Time has not healed the wound nor dried my tears ; 

But now the ocean I again have crossed. 

S3 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And where I hear of vessel cast away, 

I thither go with half a hope to find 
Some faint surviving trace that haply may 

Relieve the deathless sorrow of my mind. 
A tale of wreck, by roving sailor told, 

Has brought me here where kindly seamen lay 
The bruised forms the cruel waters hold 

And toss in sport, then lifeless fling away." 
When Jessie too recounted all, in haste 

The lowly home of Helen Bain they sought, 
Who told the tale anew, before them placed 

The robe with baby Jessie's name enwrought. 
The garments, long preserved, that wrapped the child, 

And spoke of slender form and forehead fair, 
Of clinging arms that clasped in death, and wild. 

Disheveled locks of waving golden hair. 



He recognized the garments as the same 

His Jessie wore, — had seen her hand entwine 
Upon the robe of blue her baby's name 

In braided letters linked with trailing vine. 
He clasped his daughter in a close embrace 

That told the longing love of lonesome years. 
And gazed upon the dear uplifted face 

With eyes that gladness lit through lurking tears. 
He stroked her cheek, her silken locks caressed. 

The peerless heaven of her eye surveyed. 
Her lip and brow with lingering kisses pressed 

That all the hunger of his heart betrayed. 



84 



And Other Poems 



They kissed as those whose lips have never met 
And know they nevermore may meet again, 

Whose life sjiall be one ceaseless, long regret, 
Whose earthly bliss one moment must contain. 

Then in their daily walks about the town 

He told her of his home in foreign land. 
Where Nature showered her richest treasure down 

And Fortune gave her gifts with lavish hand. 
*'Me also she has favored, and bestowed 

Enough thy wildest dream to satisfy. 
There shall we go and bring to our abode 

Whate'er indulgent father can supply. 
Thy hand the dainty trellised vine shall train 

Where clustered blooms their garments bright 
unroll ; 
Shall wake with sweep of fingers light the strain 

That floats through secret chambers of the soul. 
There arbor dim, by murmuring leaves betrayed, 

With blossom hands shall lure to cool retreat; 
And winding walk embowered in dreamy shade 

At twilight hour invite the straying feet. 

''One chamber of our home we shall enrich 

With ranks of chosen volumes new and old; 
And marble forms from many a fluted niche 

Their gathered treasure all shall still behold. 
There fleeting fancies floating through the brain, 

Or ramblings of the soul in realm sublime. 
Embalmed in words, their glory will retain. 

Surviving all the ruined wrecks of time. 

85 



A Blossom of the Sea 



There daily shall we meet as friend with friend, 

The purest spirits earth has ever known, 
And quiet hours in conversation spend, 

And lift our minds to level of their own. 
We there shall summon back the mighty dead 

And hold communion with their souls, and learn 
The best and noblest that they thought and said 

Ere Death enclosed them in his hollow urn. 

''Or, we shall travel far to foreign climes. 

To distant shores in fame and story old ; 
The pillared structures reared in other times 

By busy hand of man shall we behold. 
There evanescent dreams of beauty lie 

Forever by a magic hand enchained, — 
The radiant forms, the robes of brilliant dye, 

The lights and shadows dim have all remained. 
There lustrous eyes from fringed lids let fall 

Their melting glances full of loving trust, 
And lips with beaming smile the heart enthrall. 

Though they that smiled have long been shapeless 
dust. 

"In deathless marble there have been preserved 

Despairing face, distorted in its pain, — 
Forms interlocked, to deadly struggle nerved, — 

The brow of giant frowning in disdain, — 
The faultless form, whose lines of beauty sweep 

In graceful flowing curves of driven snow. 
With arms of naiad mould, and lips that keep 

The sweetness yet of centuries ago, 

86 



And Other Poems 



And e'er shall keep. Howe'er may fleet the years 
These forms of beauty ne'er shall know decay ,- 

No breaking heart, no bitter, blinding tears 

Shall furrow trench or sweep one charm away. 



"There shall we wander in a land of vines 

Where stealthy streams with silent sj:eps descend, 
Where noontide sun in softened lustre shines 

From skies of blue that seem so low to bend 
That heaven's loved ones lean the lily breast 

From shining casements of their marble dome, 
And, looking down, the pleasant land invest 

With radiance of their own supernal home. 
At times so low their faces seem to bow 

We feel the warmth of loving presence near, 
And catch a transient glimpse of glowing brow 

And eyes of love that through the ether peer. 
And in the hush and silence of the night 

We hear their bosoms heaving soft and slow, 
Their voices sink to murmured whispers light 

In wonder at the charms of all below. 
And hands caressing seem to touch us oft 

As light as fall of floating apple bloom; 
And words are breathed in murmur low and soft 

That fill the soul with sense of rare perfume. 
The hush of hallowed silence often seems 

So full of forms supernal flitting by 
The heart, ecstatic in its rapture, deems 

That heaven's halls to earth have floated nigh." 



87 



A Blossom of the Sea 



"And what of Willie Brown?" "Ah, Jessie, fling 

All thought of him aside. When thou shalt see 
The wider world this newer life shall bring 

This fisher lad will little seem to thee. 
For both 'tis better far at once to part. 

The keenest stroke of sorrow's stinging rod 
Is when a wife, refined in mind and heart, 

Is linked and fettered to a senseless clod 
That finds no beauty in a graceful thought, 

For no communion with the great aspires. 
Perceives in poet's melting music naught 

To soothe the soul or feed its fainting fires ; 
Whose eyes, forever bent upon the ground. 

See not the blooms he crushes 'neath his feet, 
Nor glories of the landscape spread around, 

Nor dome above with jeweled lights replete; 
Whose breast unmoved and passionless remains 

When hill and grove with minstrel music ring; 
Whose ear is dull to all the magic strains 

That lip can blow or finger sweep from string. 
The lonely are not they that walk alone, 

But who with others must the journey take 
And find no heart accordant to their own 

Responsive music soul to soul to make. 
Thou hast thy gentle mother's gifted mind. 

Her slender, graceful form, too frail and slight 
For life of toil with one who, roughly kind. 

The tender blossoms of thy soul may bHght. 
Does Winter shelter with his garments cold 

The rose when shrinking, trembling in its fear? 



88 



Aftd Other Poems 



Though clad in armor, does the thistle hold 
Protect the tender lily blooming near? 

The rose, long cradled in the summer airs, 
Will die at touch of Winter's icy breath; 

The pointed spears the sturdy thistle bears 
The lily's bosom soon will wound to death. 

"These people for their kindness merit more 

Than hand of even lavish gift repays ; 
And who for thee a mother's burden bore 

Shall nothing lack in her declining days. 
Yet here we must no longer now remain. 

But go afar in other land to dwell. 
A sudden wound produces least of pain ; 

So •bid at once this fisher lad farewell." 

The maid had cherished yearnings undefined 

For something more than village life had brought; 
Her books a love had wakened in her mind 

For beauty, music, and the world of thought; 
Unchanted anthems haunted long her soul ; 

Unspoken legends lingered in her ear ; 
About her fleeting forms of beauty stole, 

By eye unseen, to inward vision clear. 
Her heart had hungered. Fancy had portrayed 

A fairyland its craving to supply : 
The father thus could easily persuade, 

The daughter's heart unwillingly deny. 

She found the lad beside the little cot 

Constructed by his hands with rustic skill — 

Love-prompted, busy hands that faltered not, 
But strove to add some new attraction still. 



89 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Dim-shadowed dells and glades he wandered through. 

And wild-born beings from their dwelling brought. 
The sweet-lipped violet in hood of blue, 

And ferns in broidered garments, fairy- wrought. 
Above the porch he trained the vine she loved, 

Whose purple bells, at morning's earliest ray. 
Are softly swung by taper fingers gloved 

In green, to warn the birds of coming day. 



With face averted she her message told. 

And talked against the pleadings of her heart. 
As Memory swift their happy past unrolled ^ 

She felt the pang forevermore to part. 
The pink-lipped orchard blooms, in garments white. 

Dispense their sweets for evening passer-by, 
But Death may come on pinions of the night, 

And faded, scentless all may shriveled lie. 
To him that rustic home had fairer been 

Than lofty hall adorned with sculptured bust; 
But now her words had blighted all the scene, 

Its rooms were darkened and its flowers dust. 
To this he mutely pointed, and amazed 

And silent stood ; but pallid lips compressed 
And eyes to her in speechless sorrow raised, 

Betrayed the stifled anguish of his breast. 
The maiden's inward feeUngs were at strife, 

Her conscience smote her as she turning said, 
"Some other maid will make thee better wife," 

Then faltered out a swift farewell and fled. 



go 



And Other Poems 



No word his lip could utter to restrain 

Her fleeing feet. He knew that sudden night 
Had fallen on the morning fields, nor would again 

A gleam the darkness of the shadow light. 
He left the scene of dreamed-of happiness, 

With hurried footsteps to the harbor passed, 
Unmoored his shallop — in his deep distress 

Unmindful of the threatening rising blast. 
Or warnings of the hoary fishermen ; 

For he would not to other eyes unbare 
His bosom, tortured with its anguish, when 

He fought the gloomy demons of despair. 
The tumbling of the booming, boiling waves 

Accorded with the tumult of his soul ; 
In wildly plunging through their yawning graves 

A maddened joy through all his being stole. 
And when, with heaving, rocking billows crowned. 

Came moving mountain masses gloomed with night, 
He rose triumphant o'er their crests, and found 

In tossing on their swells a fierce delight. 
Contending with the tempest, thus alone 

He fought and won his battle with despair; 
He steeled his heart, resolved without a moan 

The lifelong aching silently to bear. 
But ere his breast a haven calm had found, 

The dusky hands of night were spreading fast 
Their blackest palls of thickest gloom around 

His bark, that bowed and bent before the blast. 



91 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Then through the village soon the rumor ran 

That Willie Brown was lost in storm and night. 
Then booming bell its far halloo began, 

And beacon blazed upon the towered height. 
And watchers waited on the wind-swept shore 

And peered into the gloom with straining eye, 
Or bent attentive where amid the roar 

The ear might faintly catch distressful cry. 
Though oft deceived by mounting wave whose crest 

In beacon-glare had flashed like canvas white, 
Or wail of wind like shriek of soul distressed, 

The morning dawned without a sail in sight. 
Grim Ocean's fit of madness now had passed, 

And he with muttered moan and sigh suppressed 
In troubled sleep exhausted lay at last, 

With fallen flecks of frenzy on his breast. 
The watchers one by one had homeward gone ; 

But on the beach with tresses backward blown. 
With tearless eyes and features pale and wan. 

And heaving bosom, Jessie stood alone. 

As watchman of the coast and sullen guard, 

From granite rock had Nature hewn and cleft 
A^ rudely shapen giant, grim and scarred, 

And at its base the chiseled fragments left. 
Along the rocky shore the sifted sands 

The waves had borne and smoothed with constant 
tread. 
Where idly fallen from their careless hands 

Were fluted shell and play-worn pebble spread. 



Q2 



And Other Poems 



Here stood she in the morning cold and grey, 
While busy, bustling waters, racing fleet, 

Ran here and there for treasure-trove, where lay 
The fragments fallen at the giant's feet. 

"Relentless, all-devouring sea, 
O give my loved one back to me. 
Endured I not when yet a child, 
As victim of thy frenzy wild, 
The tempest of thy chilling breath, 

The buffets of thy cruel hand, 
That laid my mother cold in death, 

And cast me lone on rugged strand, 
A helpless babe, of all bereft, 
To care of pitying stranger left? 
Relentless, all-devouring sea, 
O give this loved one back to me. 

"Yet, oh, this once, thy prey restore. 

And I shall chide thee nevermore: 

Thy chillest breath shall breathe of balm, 

Thy wildest rage be rippled calm, 

The blackest night that glooms thy brow 

Shall morning be with gold agleam, 
Thy frenzied roar that frights me now 

Shall sweetest warbled music seem. 
Thy wave of heaven-sweeping crest 
Shall sway as soft as mother's breast. 
Then, oh, this once, thy prey restore. 
And I shall chide thee nevermore. 



Q3 



A Blossom of the Sea 



''O give him back that I may tell, 
Though seeming false, I loved him well; 
Though one brief hour my soul forgot, 
These lifelong links are sundered not; 
But once, but once my fickle heart 

Hath faltered, but it shall no more. 
Must here our paths forever part, 

And is the happy journey's o'er? 
Then I shall walk, my eyelids wet 
With dimming tears of vain regret. 
O bring him back, that I may tell, 
Though seeming false, I loved him well. 

"Relentless, all-devouring sea, 
O bring my loved one back to me, 
That I may feel his warm embrace 
And read forgiveness in his face. 
If not in life, oh, yet in death. 

That I his pallid lips may press 
Till mine shall give them living breath 

To pardon all my faithlessness, — 
Till in his dull, cold ear I tell, 
Though seeming false, I loved him well. 
Thou cruel, all-devouring sea, 
O bring my loved one back to me." 

As thus she spoke, around the headland came 
A stalwart form in seaman's habit dressed : 

A pause, a startled cry, a whispered name, — 
The maiden sank unconscious on his breast. 



94 



And Other Poems 



By baffling blasts, on bounding billows borne, 

The lad at last to nearest port was blown. 
And folding there the shallop's pinions, torn. 

Had homeward trod the trampled beach alone. 
With steel-nerved breast and dauntless bearing proud, 

He strode beside the overpeering rocks, 
Resolved to meet, as they, with head unbowed 

The wildest tempest and the fiercest shocks. 
A glimpse of lissome form and streaming hair; 

Then, pausing by the giant's feet, he heard 
The tearless maiden's self-accusing prayer, 

And hope revived his deepest being stirred. 
A sudden light had broken through the cloud 

That seemed to blacken all his way with night ; 
The morning meadows broke in singing loud 

That put the sombre silences to flight. 

No needless words were said. In close embrace 
The raptured lovers stood upon the shore. 

The glow of morning lit each gladdened face. 
And fears of final parting were no more. 

Her father, learning of her absence, fled 

With hasty footsteps here and saw the twain, 
And in her face the open secret read : 

The lately found to him was lost again. 
"From Willie, father, I can never part : 

We two have been together all our lives. 
Such tendrils Time has thrown about my heart. 

To break their clasp my bosom vainly strives. 



95 



A Blossom of the Sea 



The terrors of the night have taught me this : 
My fairy dream of happiness is done; 

For let the future bring me bane or bliss, 

Where'er the path may lead, our ways are one. 

The bird that all its little life hath spent 

'Mid simple blooms and swinging leafy sprays 
Would pine if in a palace garden pent 

Where gaudy plant a richer robe displays. 
Go, leave me in this lowly humble scene ; 

For daily life has in this soul of mine 
So linked and woven this that I had been 

Unhappy in that grander home of thine. 
Remote from bustling strife and pompous pride 

We two shall walk our little way alone. 
Shall live and love, then, lying side by side, 

Sleep our long sleep untroubled and unknown. 
Forget these hours, and let me be again 

A lingering shadow left from other years ; 
But thou to me forever wilt remain 

A blissful memory dashed with dimming tears." 

By clambering vines now thickly overgrown 

The cottage nestles on the circling hill; 
Beside the bower the rose has yearly blown. 

And fern and violet find a shelter still. 
For Jessie still the purple bells of dawn 

Are at the porch by Willie's hand arrayed, 
And now their children play upon the lawn 

And drink the fragrance of the cooling shade. 

q6 



And Other Poe?ns 



But near, where oaks unfurl their banners old, 

And dying Day, from trembling, glowing hands. 
At last flings down his miser hoards of gold, 

A grander, not a dearer, mansion stands. 
'Tis there that Jessie and her Willie dwell : 

But winding hedge and beaten footpath show 
They oft frequent the little cot and tell 

Of scenes and loves of years of long ago. 

One dwells with them who wears a kindly face, 

Whose ample locks are richly touched with white ; 
But where the days of sadness left their trace 

Have years of gladness cast a wondrous light. 
Though blackest storms career across the sky 

And all the cheerful beams of heaven hide, 
Yet oft the cloudy steeds of darkness fly, 

And bright is all the West at eventide. 

Her father had consented to remain — 

By Willie's earnest, manly bearing moved, 
But more by Jessie's words. Three years the twain 

To college halls he sent and further proved. 
Then fitting out a vessel for the land 

Beyond the main, he put the lad aboard. 
Sea-nurtured from his youth, to high command 

He rose. And now his vessels richly stored 
With foreign goods return. The fishing port 

Has widened to a town, whose hardy sons 
Upon his decks the ocean breezes court. 

And homeward bring for wife and little ones, 



97 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Across the rocking billows of the deep, 

Their gathered spoils. Now larger homes appear, 
Where often Beauty and Refinement keep 

An even pace with Plenty all the jear. 
Than Helen Bain's no fairer home is there. 

Her lightest needs are lavishly supplied. 
Though snows have fallen on the wavy hair, 

The looks of kindly goodness yet abide 
Enwritten on her face, with something too 

Like growing rays of Heaven's dawn, that stream 
Already o'er the hills of Death, and through 

The mists of earth upon her forehead beam. 

By all are Jessie and her Willie known : 

For light and beauty have they spread around, 
Encouraged, lifted, helping arms have thrown 

About the erring weak, till all have found 
The ways of Knowledge lead to higher heights 

Of happiness, that broaden to the view. 
And onward lead to more supreme delights 

Than ever soul of groveling mortal knew. 
For onward, upward points the hand of Fate, 

And onward, upward moves the human race; 
Though toilful be the path and slow the rate, 

The host advances to a higher place. 
Though many stragglers loiter in the rear. 

And blindly flounder in the deep morass, 
And few be they who yet the summit near, 

Yet onward, upward moves the struggling mass. 
The blood of all the centuries and the tears 

That stain the pathway have not been in vain; 
Trace all its windings through the weary years. 

And mighty strides of progress then are plain. 



c,8 



And Other Poems 



As Knowledge slow unfolds the growing mind 

The soul awakes and breaks in gladder song; 
And eyes are lifted to the light, inclined 

To circle blindly round the feet so long. 
And beckoned on by Jessie's guiding hand, 

These villagers have lifted too their eyes 
And, seeing lights on higher slopes of land, 

Forsaken lower moors and murky skies; 
And rising from the misty fog and gloom 

That clouded and obscured the vision there, 
They walk serener plains of wider room, 

And drink the rapture of a purer air. 
The world is brighter than they ever dreamed. 

Although in toil the fleeting days are spent, 
Each golden hour by useful task redeemed, 

The soul is not as in a prison pent ; 
For on the scene will often Music steal 

And flood the air with melting strain divine. 
And Art the charm of blending tints reveal 

When framed in curves of beauty's flowing line, 
And Thought, with subtle treasures of the mind 

Upon undying pages old impressed 
In glowing words, a quiet hour will find 

To wake the slumbering genius of the breast. 

Remembering all the darkness of the past, 
The light and gladness of the world to be. 

They still believe some angel hand has cast 
Upon their shore this Blossom of the Sea. 

August, 1897. 



QQ 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A PIONEER FARMER 

WHERE clothed in verdure yonder fields are seen 
In swelling curves of hill and hollow rolled 
The squadroned maples stood in tunics green 

And baldrics bright with gleams of autumn gold. 
There, stationed 'mid the host, the stalwart pine 

Above their purple plumes aloft had flung 
His banner broad, whose folds in graceful line 
Low drooping swayed or slow unfurling swung. 

In autumn dim, alone and undismayed, 

A gallant youth that bannered army neared ; 
He smote their proudest low with flashing blade 

And fortress rude among the fallen reared. 
And here he brought his bride of tender years, 

Sweet-lipped and slender as a bending bloom. 
Whose eyes, emerged from some dim sea of tears, 

Would still in star-like flashes light and loom. 
Her brow some angel hand had smoothed and pressed 

Till more than earthly calmness there reposed. 
Her misty cloud of tresses had caressed 

Till tints of glory every wave disclosed. 

The walls were built of rugged beams and round. 
Rough-notched at end and interspaced with clay. 

High-gabled roof the humble structure crowned. 
Through which a chimney struggling made its way. 

lOO 



And Other Poems 



An ample hearth within where high were heaped 

The oaken logs on frosty winter night, 
And flames triumphant loud in laughter leaped 

And clapped their ruddy hands in sheer delight. 
The shadows, beckoned from their dim abode, 

Along the wall a merry measure paced ; 
While shining pinions 'mid the rafters glowed, 

And giant glooms their flitting flashes chased. 

A sudden flare lit all the simple room: 

The floor of riven pine ; the mantel-shelf 
Agleam with shining ware ; the clacking loom 

That claimed an ample corner for itself ; 
The chimney seat, a couch for stranger guest; 

The easy chair with woven splint inwrought; 
The table, whiter than if linen-drest, 

Where merry cups each glint and twinkle caught; 
The curtained bed of down, heaped mountain-high 

And crowned with fluffy pillows light as air, 
Where smooth-laid counterpane allured the eye 

With many a gay, grotesquely patterned square. 

Their home was small, the forest dim and lone ; 

About their hearth yet children playing came 
And crooned their little songs in cheery tone, 

And flung a light from flashing locks of flame. 
All day she nimbly sped the moaning wheel 

That sighed and wailed its plaintive, weird refrain, 
Or filled the pauses with the clicking reel 

That from the spindle whirled the growing skein. 



lOI 



A Blossom of the Sea 



While flared on evening hearth the flaming wood, 
The needles twinkled in her fingers fleet 

That wove for rounded cheek the cosy hood 
Or shaped the stocking for the dimpled feet. 



There too for him life ran its busy round : 

At glow of morn his ringing axe awoke 
The silent shades and dusky depths profound 

Of sombre-mantled pine and burly oak. 
While hostile tempest loud the trumpet blew 

They stood undaunted at the charger's blast, 
On high their arms in wild defiance threw 

And dealt their blows in fury as he passed. 
But now, their tresses trembling at each blow. 

By comrades' clinging hands in vain delayed, 
With sigh of last farewell and groaning throe 

Of dying agony before his glancing blade 
They reel, the lofty head is lowly bowed 

With all its tossing plumes, the arms outthrust 
Crash prone to earth, and all the tresses proud 

Are torn and rent and darkened in the dust. 
His hands had thus by never-flagging zeal 

The sunny fields from forest dense and tall 
Out-hollowed with consuming flame and steel; 

The fallen trunks had shaped for sheltering wall 
To shield his harvest from the winter gale. 

Or yonder fence that mossy vesture wears, 
That tacks and veers like wind-confronted sail. 

And all the farm divides in verdant squares. 



102 



And Other Poems 



By years of toil incessant from his land 

Obstructing rock and root were slowly cleared. 
As fortune blessed the labor of his hand 

Increasing signs of comfort there appeared : 
Yon roomy mansion where the morning still 

With golden finger gilds the eastern pane; 
Capacious barns where vying autumns fill 

And heap the garner high with shining grain. 
The orchard trees on yonder southern slope 

Erect in neatly ordered rows he placed, 
And pruned and shaped their spreading boughs, in hope 

Their fruitage in the after-years to taste. 
There Spring unfolds the bridal robes of Dawn, 

Of vialed odors brings her treasured stores, 
And o'er the cloud of blushful tinted lawn 

The fragrant balm with hand unsparing pours. 
There Autumn hangs his rounded cups of gold 

That such abundant nectar draughts contain, 
The brimming cup, unable all to hold, 

Is often dyed and streaked with ruddy stain. 

He rose betimes with cheery heart and brave 

To cleave the furrows of his fruitful land; 
He sowed, and what the God of harvest gave 

He gathered to his barns with thankful hand. 
When sultry sun or chill untimely frost 

Would on his fields their blighting finger lay. 
He ploughed again in hope, nor courage lost, 

For richly would the coming year repay. 
Who life preserves within the tiny germ 

Enfolded closely in the wheaten breast. 



103 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Who feeds with fallen leaf the hidden worm, 
Who builds for timid bird the sheltered nest, 

Who for the kine a winter garment weaves, 
Nor crimson vest the robin does deny, 

With careful eye the sparrow's fall perceives, 
Would give to trusting man a sure supply. 

To him in vain the helpless never went 

Nor poured their troubles into deafened ear. 
The stricken home he meet assistance lent 

And gave to passing stranger of his cheer. 
The man of God, who threading forest gloom 

On jaded steed too seldom thither fared. 
Found, like the prophet old, his little room 

And restful couch by loving hand prepared. 
By winding ways the neighbors thither went 

Through leafy dusks by starry twilight led, 
And lifted heart in song, or reverent bent 

As earnest lips the Master's message read. 

He dwelt among his dusky herds of kine 

And snowy flocks like ancient patriarch ; 
He called them all by name, and warm would shine 

Responsive, dreamy eyes of lustre dark. 
Their master was he, kind and provident : 

For winter needs he hoarded ample store ; 
With tender bosom o'er the suffering bent 

And in his arms their feeble kindred bore. 
His form while yet afar the horses knew, 

And neighing o'er the meadow trooping came, 



104 



And Other Poems 



With fondling touch around him pleading drew 
The dainty morsel from his hand to claim. 

Reflecting, toiling daily in his field, 

He learned the open book of life to read : 
What at the harvest hour the heart shall yield 

We each determine as we sow the seed ; 
Who cleaves the turf with steady hand and strong, 

Uproots the weed and plants the chosen grain, 
Although the days of watchful toil be long 

At last his meed of ripened ears shall gain ; 
Who merely leaves the garden of the mind 

An idle field unfurrowed and unsown, 
Awaiting more auspicious hour, shall find 

The vacant soil with tangle overgrown; 
Who all the year has planted weeds and tares 

May not with right complain or justly blame 
If, when his sheaf he to the garner bears. 

The Lord of Harvest cast it to the flame: 
For who would store among the precious grain 

That he had stooped to gather from the dust, 
Had sifted, fanned, and winnowed pure again, 

The weed, the bur, the mildewed ear and rust? 

To him all Nature lessons could unfold : 
The fairy plant upspringing from the sod 

Has root to cling and grapple to the mould. 
Has bloom to rise and Hft its face to God; 

The meanest life that grovels on the ground 
Is ever blindly striving for the light; 



los 



A Blossom of the Sea 



The vine that hath its lattice limit found 

An arm will lift to reach a newer height; 
The pine that deepest in the earth descends 

And, ever busy, gathers far and nigh. 
This gathered earthly treasure all expends 

In climbing upward nearer to the sky; 
The lower must subserve the higher end ; 

The purer beams are ever on the height, 
For growth and bloom all upward strain and bend, 

And souls can blossom only in the light ; 
For light alone the waxen cup can mould. 

Can trace the netted vein or flowing line, 
Can flame in scarlet, gild with burnished gold, 

Can faintly tinge or steep the lips in wine. 

And life is not for endless toil alone, 

To wrap the body warmly and to feed ; 
The heart has also yearnings of its own. 

Its craving hunger and its crying need. 
The hand that spread the banner of the sky 

And decked with golden stars its tender blue, 
That touched the petal's lips with ruby dye. 

Hath given man a love of beauty too. 
Who shaped the slender streamer of the sedge, 

Who wrapped the apple in its ruddy rind, 
Who veined the leaf and wove its broidered edge, 

Hath use and beauty ever close combined. 

Thorn, fibre, leaf, and clinging spiral scroll 
Have each a purpose in the Maker's plan. 

And every passion of the human soul 
Contributes to development of man. 



Jo6 



And Other Poems 



Our loves, our hates, our angers, and our fears, 
Our hopes, despairs, unquenchable desires, — 

All these, transmuted by the moulding years, 
For perfect growth the soul of man requires. 

The springing shoot, the bud, the fluttering spray, 

The faded stem, the withered leaf and dry, 
Show life a steady progress to decay. 

And all of earth or soon or late must die. 
When death stole nigh his bride of memory sweet 

And touched her tender eyes to endless sleep, 
He murmured low in resignation meet, 

''We sow in tears, we soon in joy shall reap ; 
For He that stoops to lift the slender blade 

To light and air through clods of darksome earth 
Can cleave the sod where man is lowly laid 

And give in nightless world a second birth." 

His hands are still, his given task is done ; 

That he might rise no one has fallen low ; 
His gain is not from store of others won ; 

His triumph plunged no other heart in woe ; 
For him no field is red with human gore, 

No smothered wretches clog the darksome mine, 
Nor faint by furnace gorged with molten ore, 

Nor stifled sink in gulfs of roaring brine. 
By blood and tears his wealth is undefiled ; 

For what he gained he gained by honest toil. 
The lands he won he won from Nature's wild. 

And fair and fruitful made the barren soil. 



107 



A Blossom of the Sea 



He spent his golden moments not in vain; 

He joyed, he sorrowed as we mortals must; 
He ran, he stumbled, rose and ran again, 

But never lay and groveled in the dust. 
On yonder slope that overlooks the scene 

Of all his toil he takes his lasting sleep. 
In vain shall Morning touch his couch of green 

To call him as of yore from slumber deep. 



God's first behest, to till and dress the land, 

He has obeyed. His works with us remain. 
Though lifeless on the bosom lies the hand, 

It has increased the sum of human gain. 
He found a forest tangled lone and dim, 

Of savage brute the home since Time began; 
He left these sunny meadows neat and trim. 

Prepared and ready for the home of man : 
The earth more like a Garden of the Skies, 

More fitting for the growth of mind and soul, 
A higher plane whence man may higher rise. 

With nearer steps approach the final goal, — 
That goal to which we slowly tend, the dream 

Of heathen bard and sacred prophet old, — 
When earth again a paradise may seem 

And man his God may unabashed behold. 
For all that, mounting, smooth the steeps of Time 

Are hewing pathways for the host unborn 
That, coming after, to the height shall climb 

And walk serene the Tablelands of Morn. 



io8 



And Other Poems 



HOW LONG? 

HOW long, all-seeing Lord, how long 
Ere yet thy reign of peace shall come, 
When man shall strive no more with Wrong, 
'And frenzied lips of War be dumb? 

Though reeking blood and orphan tears 
Have ever yet been Freedom's price, 

In all the onward march of years 
Must these be still the sacrifice? 

Must each serener height be gained 
By flashing sword and flaming gun? 

By bosom-thrust and garment stained 
Must every forward step be won? 

Shall evil men our way oppose 

Till silenced in the grasp of Death? 

Will naught avail but trenchant blows 
And blighting blast of cannon's breath ? 

Or, may it be thy will divine 

To leave unchecked this crimson flood ? 
Must Freedom's sacrifice, as thine, 

Be made in vesture dipped in blood? 



log 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Wherein we err for lack of light, 
O plainer make thy hidden ways ; 

If wrongly we contend for Right, 

Forgive, and make our wrath thy praise. 



no 



And Other Poems 



ONWARD. 



FAR-SEEING Fate, controlling all, 
Uplifts the race by slow degrees, 
And men and nations rise and fall 
Obedient to her dark decrees. 

Her hand unseen directs our ways 
And guides through evil into good; 

The turbaned Moslem kneels and prays 
Where shrieking fanes of Moloch stood. 

A tyrant hand may redden France 

And topple monarchs from the throne, 

But Europe's cringing hosts advance 
And claim their harvests as their own. 

Whoe'er by Clive or Hastings bled, 

They wrought with Progress and with Fate, 

For India lifts her languid head 

And slowly strides to Freedom's gate. 

Awhile the gloom of battle-smoke, 
Then flame and roar of cannon cease. 

The chains of slavery are broke 

And Egypt wears the smile of peace. 



/// 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Did Rhodes but dream an idle dream, 
Or was his vision that of Clive? 

The hour had struck for veldt and stream 
To break the shackle and the gyve. 

The Cross that lights the Southern skies 
Should look on triple Cross below, 

For where the flag of Britain flies 

Unfettered Faith and Freedom grow. 

Nor may the tumult all be vain, 
Nor every blood-besprinkled field, 

For flaming roar and drenching rain 
Foretell the peaceful autumn yield. 

Another land has Britain freed 

From slavish wrong and settled night ; 

Another host must Britain lead 
To far-off leveled plains of light. 

In Greece our Art and Learning grew. 
From her Castalian fount we draw ; 

Where Rome's imperial eagles flew 
She left her Government and Law ; 

But Britain's meed of fame shall be. 
Though all her fanes to dust be hurled, 

She nurtured Freedom by the sea 
And gave it to the waiting world. 



112 



And Other Poems 



MAJUBA HILL. 

the 'voices of the dead 
Sound like a distant torrent's fail. — Hyron. 

COMRADES that have long been sleeping 
On Majuba's rugged hill, 
Hark, I hear a murmur sweeping 
Through the moonlit silence chill. 

Daisied down and heathered highland , 
Harvest plain and mapled height. 

Flock-frequented southern island 
Rise before my visioned sight. 

Gay with flags and lances gleaming, 

Tramping to the beat of drum. 
Forth from cot and palace teeming, 

Shoreward marching, thousands come. 

Now their coursers tread the billows 
Foaming white beneath their feet 

Comrades, turn upon your pillows! 
Hear the iron pulses beat ! 

See, they stand with armor glancing 

Marshaled at the bugle call ; 
Now they sternly come, advancing 

Over trench and mountain wall. 



lis 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Onward, flaming death defying, 
Battling with a hidden foe, 

Baffled, bleeding, falling, dying. 
Move the legions, thinning slow. 

Yonder on the crest appearing. 
Up they burst 'mid crash of gun ! 

Hark, the mighty roar of cheering- 
Foemen fled and victory won ! 

Stamp this deep on deathless pages 
''Justice often tarries long. 

But, though slumbering for ages. 
Ever rights a human wrong." 

Once again on Freedom's altar 
Lie our best and dearest slain ; 

But can sons of Britain falter, 
Though another's be the gain ? 

Long your name shall live in story, 
Ye that nobly fought and well ; 

Welcome to our bed of glory, 
Ye that as avengers fell. 

Ours to fail in the endeavor; 

Yours to win the bloody field, 
Yours to live in fame forever ; 

Ours to die — but not to yield. 



114. 



And Other Poems 



Barren, bleak and lonely mountain, 
Now departed is thy shame ; 

Cleansed by victor's crimson fountain, 
Thine is now an honored name. 



In the silence deep and solemn 
We shall slumber now content; 

Rear for us no storied column. 
This our noblest monument ! 



115 



A Blossom of the Sea 



CANADA TO COLUMBIA. 



O ELDER sister, though thou didst of yore 
Forsake thy mother's ancient hall and flee 
To be the chosen bride of Liberty, 
She cherishes her grief and wrath no more, 
Nor seeks the broken circle to restore, 
Yet fain would clasp thee to her breast again, 
But thou aloof uncertain dost remain. 



O canst thou not the one mistake forget 

Of her that bore thee, taught thy lips to frame 
Thy early words, thy God in prayer to name ; 
That in the paths of right and justice set 
Thy feet, where not infrequent walk they yet; 
That stood devoted at thy youthful side. 
Nor e'en her blood in thy defence denied? 

But if thy younger sister yet abide 

Content and happy in her mother's hall, 
Nor feel the bond of blood a menial thrall, 
But, leaning heart to heart, of choice confide 
In mother yet as dearest guard and guide, — 
If thou wilt not thy mother's love regain, 
Why must thy cradle sister plead in vain ? 



ii6 



And Other Poems 



Yet all the best that bubbles in our veins 

We sisters drew from that one Saxon breast. 
Where oftentimes thy maiden cheek has pressed, 

Mine resting still in loving trust remains. 

Our bonds of blood should be enduring chains. 
Obey thy heart and grasp the proffered hand, 
Then all the world our wills may not withstand. 

1898. 



117 



A Blossom of the Sea 



COLUMBIA TO CANADA. 



LONG have I proudly held aloof, nor designed 
To tread the chambers of that mother's hall 
Who, when I heard the bridegroom's earnest call, 
With needless force my hasting feet detained 
Till deep our garments were in crimson stained, 
Till by her altar, cleft and overturned. 
Among the ashes cold, lay Love inurned. 

I fled, and far away in western wild, 

Where Heaven keeps from dusk to dawn unfurled 
My banner broad and blue and star-empearled, 

Have I a home on ampler basis piled, 

And busy wrought, alone, unreconciled. 
Thee, by thy mother biding, loved I not, 
And even smote when yet my wrath was hot. 

But when, indignant at a neighbor's woe. 

Who, crouching 'neath the trampling heel, awoke 
At last to strike the swift avenging stroke. 

But, fainting, sank beneath redoubled blow, 

I dared to smite the swarthy alien foe. 

And all with threatening aspect stood around, 
In her a friend, in her alone, I found. 



ii8 



Ana Other Poems 



And then the dormant memories of the years 
When happy in her constant love I dwelt 
Came flooding back again, until I felt 
The lengthened absence only more endears 
That mother whom my inner soul reveres. 
Together be our banners broad unfurled — 
The Cross, the Stars, the beacons of the world ! 

1898. 



IJQ 



A Blossom of the Sea 



BUILDERS OF THE BROAD DOMINION. 

BUILDERS of the broad Dominion, 
Delve foundations deep and wide, 
Strong to bear a noble structure 
That, resisting rage of tempest, 
Through the ages shall abide. 
Build enduring walls of beauty, 
Crown the shining crest with turrets. 
Seat it high upon the summit. 
Where its light shall serve the nations 
As a beacon and a guide. 

Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Build as if in Heaven's sight; 
Bending with becoming reverence, 
Mould your laws in truth and justice, — 
God is yet a God of Right. 
Masses make a rabble merely, 
Only men of thought a nation ; 
Fling abroad the flag of Knowledge, 
Gather 'neath it all the people: 
God is too a God of Light. 

Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Union only can succeed : 
Stay the petty strife of party. 



I20 



And Other Poems 



Stop the hungry hunt for office, 
Hush the crafty cry of creed. 
Labor for your land's advancement 
As a banded league of brothers ; 
Climb, but lift your comrades with you; 
Set your heart on something higher 
Than the lust of selfish greed. 

Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Love the honor of your land : 
Meet your neighbor as an equal, 
Crouch nor cringe for crumbs of favor. 
Give and take a brother's hand. 
British blood is bounding in you, 
British hearts within you beating, — 
Never basely kneels the Briton. 
Bow to none in meek submission ; 
Proudly face the world and stand. 

Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Dowered r ch are your domains : 
Land of lake and rushing river, 
Land of fragrant slopes of forest, 
Land of level pathless plains ; 
Land where summer sunlight lingers 
Painting peach and flushing apple ; 
Land of bright and bracing winters 
Sending vital force and vigor 
Flashing, thrilling through the veins. 

121 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Waiting long your wealth has lain: 
Mountain breasts, to fulness bursting, 
Laced with shining veins of metal, 
Wait for you to stoop and drain ; 
Prairies, that a thousand ages 
Have been storing deep with richness, 
As a food for future millions. 
Wait to fill your cloven furrows 
With the wealth of waving grain. 

Builders of the broad Dominion, 
Mount your iron steed and roam. 
Set his name of silver streaming. 
Heat his blood to seething hisses. 
Bring your boundless treasure home. 
Trail the timbers from the forest. 
Whirl your wheels with tossing torrents. 
Delve a deeper path to ocean, 
Lade your vessels to the bulwarks, 
Plough the plunging deeps to foam. 



122 



And Other Poems 



ENGLAND. 

O MOTHER, pilot in remoter sea, 
Redeemer of the wild and barren land, 
That all may under Freedom's banner stand 
And hear thy world-wide mandate to be free, 
Thy ancient foes in envy picture thee 
A greedy tyrant wielding flaming brand. 
And ruthless crushing with a bloody hand 
The brave that will not tamely bow the knee. 

Yet thou hast pardoned traitors from thy hearth, 
And stealthy foes that, masked in thine array. 
When winning, strip the maimed and even slay ; 

And thou alone on all the reddened earth 

Hast paused to shield amid the frenzied strife 
A fighting foe's forsaken child and wife. 

THE BAY OF QUINTE. * 

OBAY of beauty, hollowed by the hands 
That in the heavens rolled the orbs of flame ; 
O flashing mirror set in emerald frame 
Where Morn, awaking, mute in rapture stands, 
And Eve, disrobing, lays her jeweled bands; 
Where placid wave and lulHng airs proclaim 



125 



A Blossom of the Sea 



For silken sail a haven safe, the same 
As for the panting barge from other lands. 

Fair image of our God's wide-open palm, 

That proffers beauties from the morning sweet 
Till dusky fingers Twilight's lattice close. 
And when at last we turn to seek repose, — 
If Life have been with toil or play replete, — 
Provides for each a haven safe and calm. 



A LEADER. 



WE SAW the sun with glorious rising beams 
Dispersing shadows of our western sky, 
With light increasing ever soaring high 
And warming all our waiting hills and streams. 
He touched the peaks where southern eagle screams 
Till kindly wonder kindled in her eye ; 
He eastward let his shining arrows fly 
Till ancient kingdoms wakened from their dreams. 

But now behold, alas, some fateful hand 
A veil of cloud o'er all his glory throws 

And casts a Wight of darkness o'er the land 
On which the brightness of his dawning rose. 

Shall such a sun in noontide splendor stand. 



Yet sink in night and darkness at its close ? 



1 26 



And Other Poems 



THE MARSH IN WINTER. 

THE marsh now lies in desolation drear, 
And igloos fur-clad Eskimos have built 
Amid the tangled flags that, pale and sere 

(Broken Excaliburs bereft of jeweled hilt), 
Are isled among the icy seas and shoals : 
A chill domain of death, — a desert lone 
Where Life is not ; but lost and wandering souls 
Sweep by on midnight wings with shriek and moan. 

Yet here a voice shall bid the dead arise, 
An arm relift the blade above the mere. 

And, beckoned from remoter southern skies. 
Shall winged wanderers nest and babble here, 

Whenever Spring, God's resurrecting breath. 

Shall breathe upon this frozen realm of death. 



DEFORMITIES. 

WHENE'ER we meet a fellow-mortal born 
With shapeliness of figure unendowed,- 
A feature drawn awry, a shoulder bowed, 
A curved or shrunken limb of vigor shorn, — 
How prone to lift derisive lip in scorn, 
And, careless of the sting, to cry aloud 
The mocking name that flings a sadder cloud 
Upon a brow sufficiently forlorn ! 



127 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And yet the man we seldom so despise, 
That hath his inward self distorted made, 
That fouls his lip with curse and reeking jest, 
That hides a sink of baseness in his breast, 
And boasts of trustful confidence betrayed, 
By sleek hypocrisy and fawning lies. 



THE DEATH AND MEMORY OF THE JUST. 

WHEN silent hushes come, and dying Day 
His hand extends agleam wdth heaven's gold, 
To bless his waiting children of the wold. 
He leaves a radiance where his fingers lay; 
When Autumn, too, arising, soars away 

With fiery steeds and chariot flame-enrolled. 
He downward flings his mantle's gleaming fold 
And wraps the watching woods in bright array. 

So, on the features of departing saint 
A softened gleam of glory often grows 

That seems a radiance streaming far and faint 
From Heaven's gate beginning to unclose. 

In death, the glory hushes all complaint, 

And radiant are the golden afterglows. ^ 



WHAT hand has ever stayed the coming tide? 
It sweeps at last the stoutest soul away. 
Why dream we not and rest our little day ? 
Death takes the sweet-lipped maiden at our side, 

128 



And Other Poems 



The friend of constant heart and judgment tried, 
And stands with finger ready raised, that may 
Upon our busy hands a silence lay 

Ere aught be done that seeming may abide. 

True heart, forbear to falter at thy task, 
Nor pause and tremble at the yawning sod : 

Thy comrades of the morning thou shalt meet. 
Fill life with deeds : not thine it is to ask 

If thou or other shall the work complete: 
Perform thy part and leave the rest to God. 



THE father sends his children to the field 
And bids them labor till the call to rest, 
Cleaving the glebe, removing from its breast 
Encumb'ring stone and wealth-absorbing weed, 
Dispensing carefully the chosen seed, 
That here they in the harvest hour may gain 
Reward of ripened sheaves and garnered grain. 
When autumn shall her due abundance yield. 

The Master sends us to the fields of Life 
Our given task with patience to fulfil. 
Not ceasing till the summons to depart. 
Contending for the right, and waging strife 
With every form of soul-retarding ill : 
We reap the harvest daily in the heart. 



I2() 



A Blossom of the Sea 



* ''^^ UIT work and live: we'll be a long time dead." 



Q 



Nay, rather work that we may never die. 
*'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" — 

These Scripture words do seemingly imply 
A curse, but are a blessing in disguise. 

The truest pleasure man can ever find 
Is when in honest work he busy plies 

All energies of hand and heart and mind. 

There is a longing in each human breast 

Not even in the dust to lie forgot : 
Only the one that bravely does his best, — 

How long may be the task it matters not, — 
Fulfilling all commands his God may give, 
Hereafter, nay, e'en here, does truly live. 

ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN. 

Ohiit February, 1899 

A SOUL like that of Keats, with Beauty thrilled, 

-^ *^ Hath also ere its noontide perished long; 
The seraph lips amid their gladdest song 

Some hand of silent touch hath ever stilled. 

The harp lies broken; and the finger, skilled 
To waken numbers cheery, sweet, and strong, 
No more the gladsome cadence shall prolong 

Till every listening heart with hope be filled. 



130 



And Other Poems 



Though dear the loss of that unfinished strain, 
Though skilful hand and tuneful Hp be gone, 

He hath not swept the string nor sung in vain : 

The song that swelled with hope and loving trust 
Shall e'er in cheerful notes go ringing on, 

Nor die and be enshrouded with his dust. 



THEODORE H. RAND. 



WHERE sleepless Minas in a weird unrest 
Blew loud his trump or moaned his dirge of 
pain, 
He caught the roll and cadence of a strain 
That human lip had never yet expressed. 
'Mid academic temples of the West 

The sounds of home rang o'er and o'er again, 
Till swelling came, attuned to that refrain, 
The thrilling song that haunted long his breast. 

But, by the sea, his lonely mother yearned 
With Honor's wreath her absent son to grace. 

In jealous joy to see him home returned 
She wrapt him close in overfond embrace. 

Now, still and songless, on her breast he sleeps, 

And sorrowed Minas ever moans and weeps. 



131 



A Blossom of the Sea 



ALEXANDRA 

A VIKING'S daughter, love-allured, she came 
O'er northern deeps to share a sea-king's 
throne ; 
No heartier welcome has a princess known, 
No fairer bride could prouder monarch claim ; 
Years have not dimmed her welcome nor her fame; 
And now, while bowing myriads bemoan 
Her Edward's loss, for her, bereft and lone, 
Our trembling lips the tenderest blessings frame. 

Faint not, dear heart, beneath thy weight of woe; 

Fairest of queens, our Britain ill can spare 
The gentle hand that knows the art that brings 
Distress relief, like magic touch of kings. 

Late may thy feet to tread his way prepare, 
Long may the world thy angel presence know. 



ON VIEWING KING EDWARD'S PICTURE 

METHINKS I see in that majestic face 
The cheeriness that speaks the hearty friend; 
The purpose firm, undaunted to the end; 
The wisdom that a kingly brow should grace; 
And something, too, divinely sad — the trace 
Of cares and sore perplexities that rend 
The earnest heart when those beloved contend. 
Forgetful how they ruin or debase. 



132 



And Other Poems 



Model of monarchs, king in mind and heart, 
Too diligent he has the people served, 
Nor paused till death his busy hand unnerved. 

On him, the lord of kingdoms far apart, 
As now he lays his earthly sceptre down, 
In love the world bestows he** richest crown. 

GOLDWIN SMITH. 

Ohiit June 7th, i9rO. 

TEACHER and Sage who wrote with magic pen 
Dipped in Castalian fount, who standing by 
Surveyed with clear and unimpassioned eye 
The deeds of nations and the thoughts of men; 
Keen to discern a human wrong, and then 
Bold to o'erthrow the Dagon and defy 
With dignity the clam'rous hosts that try 
Their fallen idol to erect again. 

O Soul clear-visioned, hast thou fathomed now 
The Riddle of Existence that perplexed 

Thy honest heart and clouded oft thy brow? 
Full needlessly has this thy bosom vexed — 

Ready thy heart and ready was thy pen 

For aught that cheered or blessed thy fellowmen. 

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. 

Obiit August 13th, 1910 

NATIONS HAD stormed their heated wrath away, 
And, torn by shell and trenched by eager steel 
And trampled by the frenzied charger's heel, 
Thousands of Britain's best and bravest lay 

133 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Sore racked with pangs; and Pestilence held sway 
In barren sheds, and set a scarlet seal 
On lip and brow, that might to Death reveal, 
Than in the battling ranks a surer prey. 

Angel of Hope and Healing, dying men 
Paused on the verge to answer her recall 
And felt the thrill of life reviving when 
She laid her hand upon each beating brow. 
They rose to bless her as she passed, as all 
Arise and bless her as she passes now. 

MARK TWAIN. 

Obiit April 21, 19 lO. 

STRUGGLING to reach some far dim-lying coast, 
O'er sands that burn, in vales remote from day, 
On rocky summits bleak, in dense array. 
Or scattered ranks, we strove, a fainting host: 
Maker of Mirth, when thou wert given the post 
Of guide to lead by more delightful way, 
Ever thou didst a cheery front display 
E'en when thy heart was crushed and bleeding most. 

Nor less a guide, nor least in merit thou, 
Though thy commands were given with a smile ; 
Thou hast inspired as leader of the van 
Because we knew thou wert in heart a man, 
Honest in thought and deed, contemning guile, 
Worthy this wreath we lay upon thy brow. 



n4 



And Other Poems 



FRAGMENTS. 

By outward dress the heart we measure oft 
The thistle hath a thorny coat, but yet 

The bee can find a bosom silken-soft 

And ruby lips with dewy sweetness wet. 

The many tasks I leave undone 

Demand an age of years ; 
Too soon the slender thread is spun, 

Too swift the fatal shears. 



135 



A Blossom of the Sea 



LES BELLES CANADIENNES. 



TO LOUISE. 

O GLOSSY locks that Night with dusky hand 
Hath swept in waves and lit with lurking light, 
Profusely clustered round a forehead bright 
With beams of beauty brought from Morning Land ! 
O lips that breathe of scented blossoms fanned 
By low-voiced breezes loitering in their flight ! 
O eyes of darksome depths of lustrous Night 
That dream of waves that lap Italian strand ! 

The softened glow that slumbers in thine eyes, 
The veil of light about thy forehead thrown, 
A sunny climate only can impart: 
This clime of warm and unbeclouded skies, 

Where all thy charms have to perfection grown. 
Is but the sunshine of thy loving heart. 



TO MARIE. 

HEN lonely wanderer on the starless deep, 
By shrouding glooms and baffling blasts dis- 
mayed, 
Discerns an isle of ever-during shade, 



w 



136 



And Other Poems 



Of level greens and fairy-haunted steep, 
Where bubbhng murmurs o'er the senses creep, 
And snowy lips to fragrant rest persuade, 
He longs to furl his canvas torn and frayed, 
To wake forever or untroubled sleep. 

So I, though baffled oft and wandering lone, 
Have found in thee the friend I long have sought, 

With heart and mind responsive to my own ; 

And may I in thy presence but abide, 

Enraptured with the music of thy thought, 

No more I seek nor ask a heaven beside. 

TO NELLIE. 

ONLY one shrine I kneel to day by day, 
Only one flower to me can fragrant seem, 
Only one bird can thrill me with its lay, 

Only one star can send a cheering beam : 
If then that shrine be closed, I cannot pray ; 

That star obscured, all heaven is blank and void ; 
That flower dead, all sweetness fled away; 
That bird-voice stilled, all melody destroyed. 

And yet I did not deem one absent face. 

One voice unheard, of all that I have known, 

Would render earth a cheerless dwelling-place. 
And make my path so desolate and lone. 

Return, dear face, return, sweet voice, and bring 

The brightness and melodies of Spring. 



137 



A Blossom of the Sea 



TO OLIVE. 

HELD as vain, when ancient sages taught, 
That yonder Hmpid far-revolving sphere, 
Whose twinkhng beams in ether realms appear, 
Could send through deeps of space an impulse fraught 
With mystic, subtle potency that wrought 
The will of destiny on mortals here, 
Throughout their Hves determined their career, 
And prompted every secret wish and thought. 

No more I disbelieve; for o'er my soul 
Thy subtle spell has come that, near or far, 

On Noontide's heights, or in the Vale of Dream, 
O'er all my being holds a sway supreme. 
How can I doubt that other heavenly star. 
For this does every thought and wish control ? 

TO CLARA. 

AS ONE who standing on the ocean shore 
Where to his feet are in succession rolled 
Translucent billows fraught with sunset gold 
That seem to float from Heaven's open door 
Must feel the spell of rapture more and more 
The longer he their glory shall behold. 
Till soul and sense in fetters they enfold. 
And he can naught but tremble and adore, 

So vainly I thy magic spell withstand ; 

For more and more thy fairy arts enthrall, 

138 



And Other Poems 



Till, heart and soul enchanted, I confess 
A passing touch of thy caressing hand, 

A whispered word that from thy lips may fall, 
Can make or mar my lasting happiness. 



TO VIVIAN. 

I ASKED my heart, that beats accord with thine, 
What if we twain no more for aye should meet; 
Ne'er dreaming such could be, this heart of mine 

Grew silent at the thought and ceased to beat. 
I asked my soul if gone were its delight, 

Thy kindred soul, would it thy loss deplore ; 
It shuddered, plumed a sudden wing for flight 
To leave its mortal cell for evermore. 

If we no more may wander hand in hand, 
If we no more may hold communion sweet 

And read a thought as unexpressed command, 
If heart to heart no more responsive beat, 

I care not when the gates of life reclose. 

Nor in what deep of Lethe I repose. 



TO MARGARET. 

AS ONE who roaming on a pathless sea 
His bark has guided by one star alone. 
Whose radiant beams upon the billows thrown 
Have been his constant light of destiny, 



no 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Must when, in clouds of dark obscurity, 
It disappears, till mists are overblown, 
His canvas furl and wait where glooms unknown 

And moaning winds and heaving waters be; 

So I, who centred every wish and thought 
On thee, and ever found thy smile a guide, 

Thy word an inspiration true, nor sought 
Nor even wished another heaven beside 

Thy presence, now deplore the bonds of Fate 

And longing for thy early coming wait. 



TO AILEEN. 

WITH vestal veil from glowing brow withdrawn, 
'Mid floating mists and ebon clouds of night 
That faintly shroud her arms and bosom white, 
Betimes appears the Angel of the Dawn 
And swiftly spreads o'er waiting wood and lawn 
The wonder of her all-pervading light. 
Till glooms and shadows far have taken flight 
And Night and all his darknesses are gone. 

So comes Aileen, the angel of my heart, 
A gladsome vision, down the winding stair. 

Her beaming brow with loosened tresses crowned 
That float and fold her perfect form around ; 
Then, at her magic presence. Gloom and Care 
With all their haunting minions soon depart. 



140 



And Other Poems 



TO KATIE. 

Wireless Telegraphy. 

FLUNG from uplifted tower, on pulsing air 
In viewless waves, our winged words we send 
Across unmeasured deeps of distance, where 

Accordant keys alone can comprehend : 
Unfettered, unconfined by Time or Place, 

Can hearts be so attuned that every thought 
May wing its way across the deeps of Space 
And instant by according mind be caught? 

It needs must be: else in the silent night, 

Or even 'mid the busy tasks of day, 
Why do I hear thy voice in whispers light 

The message of thy soul to mine convey? 
Annulling Time, o'erleaping Space, to me 
Thy heart-waves come, howe'er remote thou be. 

TO MAUD. 

AY, JEALOUS am I when my eyes behold 
The passing breezes wanton with each tress 
That fain my fingers would alone caress, 
And interweave its brown with twilight gold. 
When thou art bent o'er lily snowy cold 
And it uplifts a stealthy hand to press 
Thy cheek of morning flushes, I confess 
My jealous bosom rages uncontrolled. 



14.1 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Again, whene'er I see so fondly pressed 
Some fragrant rose's dewy lips to thine, 
Or when the stars, the eyes of angels, shine 

The brighter at thy glances, in my breast 
A torrent tosses like a troubled sea — 
So deep, so fond, so mad, my love for thee. 



142 



And Other Poems 



THE BESSEMER. No. 2. 

Lake Erie, December y, 1910. 

FIERCE wrath had darkened heaven's face, 
And Night her blackest pall had cast 
Where billows, caught in dread embrace. 

Were struggling with the frenzied blast. 
Across contending waves of death 

A steel-clad courser takes its way, 
Whose heart-deep groans and hissing breath 

The fierceness of the strife betray. 
With heart of fire and nerves of steel. 

With throbbing veins of rushing blood, 
With roll and toss, with plunge and reel, 

It battles with the raving flood. 
But bitter blew the blast and cold. 

And whirling spume and flying sleet 
Congealed and clung till fold on fold 

It fettered like a winding-sheet. 
Then with a roar, as if on high 

The dome of God were cleft and rent 
And down were crashing star and sky, 

Both maddened Wave and Tempest bent 
Their blows upon its panting side; 

And one huge mass upon it fell, 
As if the demon, heaven-denied. 

Had issued from his nether hell 



143 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And, tearing from its native bed 

Some jutting crag, aloft had swung, 
And on the courser, as it sped, 

The mountain mass in fury flung. 
Broke heart of fire, snapped nerves of steel, 

Burst throbbing veins of rushing blood ; 
With roll and toss and plunge and reel 

It sank beneath the heaving flood. 
The skies assumed a darker frown: 

With dismal shriek and sullen roar 
Where sank the gallant courser down 

Fought Wave and Tempest as before. 



When came the crash nine men resigned 

Their task below and gained the deck. 
And, undeterred by wave or wind, 

Half -clad escaped the shattered wreck. 
The oars with willing hands they plied. 

But knew not where the prow to turn ; 
With starless sky and tossing tide 

No homeward way could they discern. 
But cold and bitter blew the blast. 

And flying foam and cutting sleet 
Congealed and clung and slowly glassed 

Their forms in icy winding-sheet. 
They called : the Tempest mocked their cries. 

They thought of home and wife and cot, 
And lifted hands to sullen skies 

And prayed ; but Heaven heard them not. 



lU 



And Other Poems 



Yet Death was kind : for soon grow dumb 

Their pleading lips, and heart and brain, 
As fast their limbs congeal, become 

To anguish deadened and to pain. 
Visions arise of perils past, 

Of greeting wife, of hearth aglow 
With warmth, of restful couch at last 

And grateful slumber stealing slow 
O'er wearied limbs, until there seems 

On marble face, in slaring eyes 
The joy of those that see, in gleams 

Afar, The Land of Glad Surprise. 

When morning breaks, the sun beams cold 

On waves that heave with muffled roar, 
Where frozen forms yet firmly hold 

In rigid hands the useless oar. 
Each in his place still forward leans. 

As if his frosted eyes the Maze 
Of Dark had pierced that ever screens 

The Future from our mortal gaze. 

If martyrs faithful to their creeds 

May wing their way to Heav'n through flame, 
May not those faithful in their deeds 

A like reward through suff'ring claim ? 
If e'er in duty failed they aught 

Are they not purified by pain? 
Have they not well the battle fought 

And shall they not the Haven gain? 



J45 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A LESSON. 

1 FLUNG me down amid a cypress shade 
And muttered in my bitter gloomy mood : 
"What profit in a kindly deed or good ? 
The wrong, the right, — and why distinction made ? 
The wrong is soon forgiven or forgot ; 
The right unseen, or swift remembered not." 

But, as I spoke, a vile, envenomed worm 

Came crawling through the rubbish foul and dank. 
Though often out of sight the creature sank, 

Yet up again the horrid shape would squirm : 
Though coiled and hidden under leafage fair, 
I knew the lurking horror still was there. 

Then fell through parted leaves a beam of light 
And dropped beside my feet a round of gold. 
Though high I heaped the filth-polluted mould, 

I could not dim nor hide the beam from sight : 
And leaf and tinted bloom upon it laid 
Were flushed to life and more enchanting made. 



14.6 



And Other Poems 



THE PASSING YEAR. 

A CHILD in ermined robes she came 
And swept on sledges gliding swift 
Adown the sloping winter drift 
Till flushed her cheek with tinted flame ; 
Or, cut in curves the frozen flood 
Till, flashing from her downy hood, 
Her eyes with laughter brimming stood. 



When fluted music filled the wold, 
A maiden now and stately grown, 
In gown of green and loosened zone, 

Beside the woodland brook she strolled; 
Or, on its margin couch reclined, 
And fragrant wreath or garland twined 
Her locks of sunlit brown to bind. 



In mantle bright with harvest hues, 
With sober matron step she went 
Where orchard boughs o'erladen bent 

With crimson cups of cooling dews ; 
Or, through the ripened valleys paced, 
And oft her golden girdle graced 
With drooping ears in cluster placed. 



147 



A Blossom of the Sea 



But now, when dusky mellow haze 
Bedims her sight, she sets aglow 
Her maple torch and, crouching low, 

Surveys her robes of other days ; 
But finding every treasured gown 
And garland faded, torn and brown, 
With broken sigh she lays them down. 

Ah ! needless all adornments now ! 
For soon her busy hands will rest 
Upon her still, white-shrouded breast, 

And pallor clothe her dreamless brow: 
The closing scene is nearing fast; 
Full soon are hers the chambers vast 
And shadow valleys of the Past. 



14.8 



And Other Poems 



TO A FRIEND. 

HOW can the worth of friendship be portrayed ? 
Though man has measured mountains heaven- 
crowned, 
In ocean's darkest deep the plummet laid, 

Has tracked the glowing planet's whirling round, 
In balance set the far-off burning sphere. 
He yet the worth of faithful friend sincere 

Can never mete with rod, with plummet sound, 
Nor weigh with nicest poise of balanced scale. 
Nor spy with crystal lenses that unveil 

The limpid worlds in azure deeps profound. 



Thy presence brings a gentle, steady light 

However dark the shadows that impend, 
A stronger inspiration for the right, 

A purer zeal for being's nobler end. 
While baser aspirations all depart : 
When absent, still thy memory in my heart 

A presence is from evil to defend 
Lest mute reproval in thine eyes may be. 
In long communion thou hast been to me 

That best of Heaven's gifts, a perfect friend. 



I4Q 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And shall I then thy merits tribute give, 

Or hesitate to speak deserved praise? 
Until beloved ones have ceased to live 

Too oft their due the tardy tongue delays, 
Then mutters praise to senseless ears of death. 
Nay, rather, while the bosom's quickened breath 

The joy of commendation yet betrays, 
While yet a glow can flush the conscious cheek 
And light the eye responsive, let me speak 

Ere silence on my lip her finger lays. 



150 



And Other Poems 



FALLING STARS. 

THE merry baby angels 
Make little glowing stars, 
And tripping to the gateway 

Out-fling them through the bars. 

They laugh to see them falling 
With shining trails of light, 

As you and I may see them 
On any summer night. 

They sink in limpid waters, 

On golden couches lie, 
And mock the merry glances 

Of comrades in the sky. 

But some from vernal mosses 
Their blossom heads upraise 

And stand in dreamless moonlight 
With dewy breasts ablaze, 

Till, winged with heaven-longing. 
They seek their natal sky. 

And faded garments only 
Among the mosses lie. 

But still on cloudless midnights 
They crowd the vaulted blue 

And twinkle loving glances 
And messages to you. 



151 



A Blossom of the Sea 



FAIRY LAND. 

SILENTLY from azure heaven 
Wing the flakes of snow, 
Whiriing, floating, softly Hghting, 
Like the faUing leaves of autumn 
Earthward sinking slow. 
Hung with dainty lawns and laces, 
Spruce and cedar boughs are bending 
Till their taper tips are resting 
On the sward below. 

Earth becomes a marble palace — 
Marble pavements 'neath the feet, 
Marble colonnades and arches 
Passing wildest dream of artist 
Everywhere the vision meet; 
Where before were shrubs and hedges 
Now are marble shrines and grottoes 
Carved in Arabesque fantastic, 
Every spray and leaf complete. 

As the evening sun ere setting 
Flings o'er all his golden spell. 
Hand and hand two little maidens 
Wandering in this realm of splendor 
Feel a joy no lip can tell. 



^5^ 



And Other Poems 



As they pass the snowy grottoes, 
One whose inmost soul is beauty 
To her younger sister whispers, 
"This is where the fairies dwell." 

Seeing all this grace and splendor 
None of us can understand. 
Not in error was the maiden 
In her pretty childhood fancy 
When she deemed it Fairy Land. 
Such enchanting forms of beauty, 
Chastely planned and deftly moulded, 
Prove there is a Mind of Beauty 
And a more than mortal Hand. 



153 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE ROBINS. 

AS A fragrant breath from a mead afar 
There came to the robins a whisper low 
As they slept and dreamed under southern star, 

''The fairies are lifting the veils of snow, 
Blithe April is coming in flowery car 
And the Dawns are setting the world aglow." 

They freighted their air-borne ships at night 
And breasted the waves of the upper blue ; 

They set their sails by the Northern Light 
And steered where the lure of the homeland drew; 

And their glad hearts thrilled as they hove in sight, 
As the heart must thrill if the heart be true. 

And now, in the shelter of evergreen boughs, 
In the twilight hush of the dying day 

They whisper their secrets and plight their vows : 
They sing in the morning their hearts away 

As the waking world with a call they rouse 
To rejoice in life and be glad as they. 



154- 




^Wf^ 



V 




SOKQS 



i 



^ 



f 

\ 

4 



1 



1 



ifl' 



#^ 



1 



And Other Poems 



A SONG. 
ANTICIPATION. 

OCOME, for the light 
Is low on the hill, 
And, far away, Night 
Is lingering still. 

Be nigh when the flush 
Of daylight departs. 

That the calm and the hush 
May quiet our hearts. 

O stay till the stars 

At the sky-lattice stand 

Unfolding the bars 

With flame-lighted hand. 

Enclasp me once more 
As a dove to thy breast, 

My locks as of yore 
By thy fingers caressed. 

Then gaze in my eyes 

Till my soul thou shalt see, 

For mirrored there lies 
But an image of thee. 



157 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Reclined on thy breast, 

Awake yet adream, 
Thy Hps touch and rest 

Light as leaf on a stream. 

Their warmth and their glow 

Set my being aflame, 
As wine-flushes flow 

In thrills through the frame. 

Dispel not the charm, 
For aye let me rest, — 

My shelter thy arm, 
My heaven thy breast. 



158 



And Other Poems 



ELAINE. 

Dear, dainty Elaine, 

Her voice has a strain 
Like heart-haunting music of yore; 

The sound of her feet 

Is like far-echoed beat, 

In some fairy retreat. 
Of dream-laden wave on the shore. 

Chorus. 

This dainty, this fairy Elaine, 

The rarest, the sweetest, 

The fairest, the neatest, 

In grace the completest. 
The Edens of earth yet contain. 

Like mist- veil withdrawn 
From the forehead of Dawn 

Seems floating each soft ebon tress ; 
And her little white hand, 
Like a magical wand, 
Holds my heart at command 

By a touch or a clinging caress. — Chorus. 

If with dim mystic glow, 
Like a flame burning low, 
They cast but a glance into mine, 



ISQ 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Her dark-looming eyes 
My soul hypnotize 
Till submissive it lies, 
Or thrills as with flushes of wine. — Chorus. 

Her slow-heaving breast 

Is a pillow of rest 
With fresh apple bloom swelling high; 

And her breath, lightly drawn, 

Is the faint air of dawn 

That steals on the lawn 
From the roses their first waking sigh. — Chorus. 

Her lips once to kiss 

Were sufficient of bliss 
To compensate for ages of pain, 

Could one only forget, 

Or cease to regret, 

Nor long ever yet 
To press them again and again. — Chorus. 

Dear, dainty Elaine, 

To be mine would she deign, 
Of Earth I should ask nothing more ; 

And no heaven were fair, 

But a realm of despair, 

If she were not there, 
Forever to love and adore. — Chorus. 



i6o 



And Other Poems 



SONG. 

WHEN robins pipe their warning, 
Across the dewy lea, 
With flushing, fragrant morning 
Come sweeter thoughts of thee. 

All day the moments winging 

In ceaseless, silent flight, 
Soul messages are bringing 

On passing pinions light. 

When from the heaven starlit 

The twilight glories fall. 
Those dreamy lamps afar-lit 

Thy limpid eyes recall. 

Thee, when my spirit gazes 
Through misty vales of dream. 

I see in all the mazes 

Of valley, hill and stream. 

All joys my heart hath tasted 

Seem nothing now to me. 
And every moment wasted 

Unspent in thoughts of thee. 

SONG. 

OTURN to me dearest, no longer allow 
A frown to enshadow so placid a brow. 
Ah, pardon — (for anguish my reasoning drowns) — 
So lovely a face cannot darken with frowns. 

i6i 



A Blossom of the Sea 



O turn to me dearest and smile once again 
To soften my anguish, to banish my pain : 
To journey through life if thy smile were withdrawn 
Were to roam through a land when the flowers are 
gone. 

O turn to me dearest, once more let me hear 
Thy sweet, mellow tones and thy laugh ringing clear: 
No longer to list to thy low whispered word 
Were to dwell in a land without streamlet or bird. 

O turn to me dearest, to pardon, forgive. 

Look kindly again, bid thy suppHant live: 

To meet never more the warm glance of thine eye 

Were to dwell on an earth with no sun in the sky. 

O turn to me dearest, avert not thy face, 
'Tis the lodestar of hope in this desolate place: 
'Tis the Vision by day, with the beckoning hand ; 
'Tis the angel I meet in the dim Slumber Land. 

O turn to me dearest; thou art, O believe, 
The image I kneel to at morn and at eve. 
If idolaters never a heaven may see, 
No heaven is mine, for I worship but thee. 

But thou art to me the one heaven I know, 
Sufficient for any fond mortal below; 
But, oh, when the earth and its joys are all by. 
To what other world will my spirit then fly ? 

162 



And Other Poems 



The fiends from their prison my soul would expel 
For loving an angel of heaven too well ; 
And the angels forever exclude from the throne, 
For naught could I worship except thee alone. 



SONG. 

WHEN down from realms of peerless blue 
The vernal suns their glances throw, 
Forbid the blooms to wake and lift 

Their faces to the genial glow ; 
Forbid, by day, the constant gaze 

That adoration mute declares, — 
By night, to veil their vestal brows 

And breathe their incense-laden prayers ; 
And then forbid my soul to be 
Entranced and worship only thee. 

When winging from the western wave 

The rising winds begin to blow. 
Forbid the bending bough to sway. 

Or fluttering leaf to tremble so ; 
Forbid the placid, dreaming lake 

Its surging billows high to fling. 
Or dimple into dainty smiles 

When lightly swept by swallow's wing; 
And then forbid my heart to thrill 
Or throb responsive to thy will. 



163 



A Blossom of the Sea 



SONG. 

SHE'S a bright little, slight little maid; 
But her hand on my life-harp when laid 
Can evoke any strain, 
Whether rapture or pain, 
A mortal touch ever essayed. 

She's a lithe Httle, blithe little maid; 
As a queen's her commands are obeyed : 

Nor enslaved though I be 

Would I wish to be free, 
Or deem that my fetters degrade. 

She's a sweet little, neat little maid ; 
But her eye from the dark ambuscade 

Or a low-drooping lash 

Such an arrow can flash 
As no soul can withstand or evade. 

She's a fair little, rare little maid. 

And her love from my heart cannot fade ; 

Angels offer no gain. 

Nor the fiends threaten pain. 
That my soul from its love can dissuade. 



164 



And Other Poems 



HOW JENNIE CROSSED THE BORDER. 



< ^ T 'M A LITTLE luckless maiden 

^ Of a poor benighted land 
Where the Bird of F'reedom never 

Comes its pinions to expand. 
I shall break my galling fetters, 

O'er the border I shall flee 
For the full exhilaration 

Of the equal and the free." 
Thus within my heart I reasoned, 

And persuaded Cousin Joe 
To the land of light and freedom 

From this slavish land to go. 



When at last we reached the border. 

There we saw a joyous band 
Singing loud to bid us welcome, 

"Hail, Columbia, happy land." 
Now they tell me there's sparkle 

In my merry eyes of blue, 
On my cheek the flush of roses 

When they're sprinkled with the dew. 
Though, of course, I don't believe them, 

Yet my Cousin Joe avers 



i6y 



A Blossom of the Sea 



That my face is quite enchanting 

When it peeps from fluffy furs. 
So I donned a cosy jacket 

And a jaunty cap of seal, 
With a secret resolution 

Hearts of freedom there to steal. 
As a handsome lad approached me 

In a coat of blue, I fear 
That my eyes did slightly sparkle 

And a little flush appear. 
Oh, but how my pulses fluttered 

When he beckoned me aside 
With an air that plainly stated 

That he wouldn't be denied. 
"One request I have, dear maiden, — 

Pray refuse me not and scoff, — 
Give me both your cap and jacket, 

They're not stamped with 'Pribyloff.' 
Here we boast of perfect freedom; 

Freely therefore I declare, 
If our country you would enter, 

Foreign furs you must not wear." 
Then I felt the breath of freedom 

(It was ten degrees below) 
Standing minus cap and jacket 

On the platform in the snow, 
For he gathered up my garments. 

Turned and coldly left me there. 
( Surely when they bought Alaska 

Home they brought the Russian Bear.) 



i68 



And Othei^ Poems 



Then the group around the station 

Sang aloud another strain — 
Loud and long they sang exultant 

And we caught the glad refrain — 
" 'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 

Then I thought: "I'm yet a stranger; 

This the only way may be 
That this people have of making 

Others jeel completely free. 
Calmly bear the sHght discomfort: 

Surgeons often cure with pain ; 
Custom makes us hug our fetters; 

Great may be the final gain/' 

Then I grew quite philanthropic : 

I would nurse them in their ills; 
So I donned a cap and apron 

And a dainty cap and frills. 
Scarce I entered on my duties 

When arrived Inspector Byrne. 
I was summoned to his presence 

And he gave me such a turn — 
For he turned me off and sent me 

Packing home the morrow morn, 
Saying, "We allow no nurses, — 

None except the native born." 

Worse than mine was Joe's adventure. 
When the great inspector learned 

i6g 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Joe had found a situation, 

He was summoned too and "Byrned." 
Proud the great inspector's bearing, 

Noble were his words and grand: 
"Pole, Italian or Hungarian 

Shall be welcome to our land ; 
But the alien from the border, 

Man or maiden though it be. 
Never shall be free to labor 

In the country of the free." 

Loud again broke in the music 

And our souls were thrilled and stirred, 
As in grand triumphant chorus 

Swelling high and clear we heard : 
"My country, 'tis of thee. 
Sweet land of liberty. 

Of thee I sing. 
Land where my fathers died. 
Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring." 

Joe and I then started homeward 

(Which we couldn't well avoid), 
But somehow upon the journey 

Both were more than overjoyed. 
"Well," said I to Joe, "hereafter 

Canada's the home for me. 
Where they don't sing much of freedom, 

But where men are truly free ; 



lyo 



And Other Poems 



Where a man wears what he pleases 

If it's good in heaven's sight ; 
Where a man is free to labor, 

Or do anything that's right; 
Where the laws are fair and equal, 

Justice never tarries long. 
Strong and swift to guard the upright, 

Swift and sure to punish wrong; 
Where the hand of legislator 

Never sways at touch of gold 
While our private rights and public 

Are for favor bought and sold; 
Where a theft is simply stealing, 

If the theft be great or small, 
Though it bear the seal and sanction 

Of a legislative hall ; 
Where a mighty corporation 

Cannot buy a tyrant's chain 
That will fetter honest rivals 

In the hurried race for gain; 
Where the struggling rush for riches 

Has not strangled heart and soul; 
Where the claims of God and justice 

Still are felt and still control ; 
Where uprightness is an honor 

And dishonesty a blight ; 
Where successful craft and cunning 

Do not pass for truth and right. 
Therefore, Joe, the Land of Maples 

Shall in future be my home; 
While a roof affords me shelter 

Never shall I further roam." 



lyi 



A Blossom of the Sea 



To a subject patriotic, 

Though my words are most subHme, 
Joe will never give attention 

Twenty minutes at a time. 
"Well," he said, "about the country 

You and I can both agree; 
There I own a little cottage, — 

Won't it do for you and me?" 

Wasn't that a mean advantage? 

What could helpless maiden say? 
I'll not tell you all the story, 

But I did not say him nay. 
With a kind of roguish twinkle 

'Neath his drooping lid concealed, 
Joe remarked that every bargain 

To be valid must be sealed. 
"Certainly," said I, "the parting 

With my furs has cost me pain; 
I'll be only too delighted 

To be quickly 'sealed' again." 

This is how I crossed the border 

To a free and happy land. 
Look beside the maples yonder, 

There you'll see our cottage stand. 
Though of course I don't believe him, 

Yet my husband, Joe, avers 
Someone's face is quite enchanting 

In these cosy, fluffy furs. 

172 



And Other Poems 



A MORNING'S ADVENTURES WITH AUTOS. 



'HP WAS a morn of early autumn 

1 When the leaves were faintly brown 
That I harnessed Maud and Katie 

For a pleasant jaunt to town. 
Cousin Jennie sat beside me 

In a suit of latest mode, 
Maud and Katie beat a music 

On the smooth, resounding road. 
But a strange unearthly bellow 

Suddenly beside us rung, 
And we by the startled horses 

Almost in the ditch were flung. 
By us flashed an automobile ; 

But from those enthroned therein 
Nothing that was sublunary 

Might a moment's notice win. 
Nose and chin were elevated 

As they swept in triumph by, 
As if they were aviators 

Sailing through the upper sky. 
When, half choked with dust and blinded, 

I had calmed the frightened pair, 
Jennie leaned to me and whispered, 

"That's the automobile air." 

173 



A Blossom of the Sea 



When again our team was pacing 

At a gentle, steady stride, 
Rushing hke a maddened demon 

We a coming car descried. 
In a blur of dust and vapor, 

Puffing, buzzing, on it swept. 
Disregarding all our signals 

They the middle roadway kept, 
And with fixed and stolid faces 

They the rearing team surveyed. 
Wondering why we had presumption 

Their dominion to invade. 
Such a glance might Jove Olympic 

To a crawling earthworm cast 
If it dared to turn and wriggle 

While he crushed it as he passed. 
As they vanished in the distance. 

When again had cleared the air, 
Jennie leaned to me and whispered, 

"That's the automobile stare." 

Soon, as we a hill ascended. 

On a narrow road and steep, 
Came a car behind approaching. 

Struggling hard and panting deep. 
Since there wasn't room to pass us 

And we couldn't reach the top, 
They were forced to slow their engine 

And, through loss of speed, to stop. 
While they yanked and cranked to start it, 

We proceeded on our way. 

^74 



And Other Poems 



Oft a single glance betokens 

More than language can convey ; 
And if glance could scorch and wither 

As a burning furnace blast, 
By their glance we had been shriveled 

When again they glided past. 
We had too much self-composure 

For their angry look to care ; 
Jennie merely leaned and whispered, 

"That's the automobile glare/' 

Gaily then we trotted onward 

Till the town at last we neared. 
When a busy group before us 

Gathered round a car appeared. 
Ladies sat as patient martyrs 

On the roadside bank of green 
While their partners, grim and dusty. 

Tinkered at the stalled machine. 
One was peering at the spark-plug, 

One the battery overhauled. 
One with pincers, wrench and hammer 

Underneath the car had crawled. 
They with bruised and blackened fingers 

Tested wire and tightened screw, 
While, forgetful of the ladies. 

Hot and fast the curses flew. 
As we trotted by and left them 

Loading sulphur on the air, 
Jennie leaned again and whispered, 

"That's the automobile sivear." 

175 



A Blossom of the Sea 



A STIRRING SCENE. 

AUTUMN hushed the world to silence 
While September night and morn 
Flung a haze of golden glory 

On the emerald seas of corn. 
Streamlets crept with drowsy. murmur 

Mazy dell and meadow through ; 
Fairy fingers nightly penciled 

Forest leaf with dainty hue. 
Straggling bees from blooms belated 

Added to their amber hoard; 
Mellow sunbeams wines and sweetness 
In the flushing apple stored. 

Evening's hush lay on the meadows ; 

Clacking doors and ringing calls 
Told where lads their weary horses 

Guided to their littered stalls. 
Now, the muttered low of cattle 

Plodding home in straggling train ; 
Now, the merry voice of milkmaid 

Faintly echoed down the lane. 

But where yonder blushing maples 
Half the ample house conceal, 

Katie Lee stands making porridge 
Of the golden Indian meal. 



176 



And Other Poems 



Katie, queen of rural beauties ; — 

Katie, in whose dreamy eye 
Brimming worlds of lurking mischief 

'Neath her drooping lashes lie ; — 
Katie of the wavy tresses 

Floating down like twilight haze, 
Tangling hearts in stronger meshes 

Than the artful hunter lays; — 
Katie of the dainty dimples 

Faint by fairy touch impressed; — 
Katie of the heart the truest 

Beating in the human breast. 

As from Katie's busy fingers 

Fell the streaming sands of gold. 
It just happened Willie Watson 

Down the grassy pathway strolled 
To the quiet room and, pausing, 

Leaned against the open door. 
(Katie might, but would not tell you 

This "just happened" oft before.) 

Scarce a flash of recognition 

Katie to the caller threw, 
But perhaps her busy fingers 

Just a little faster flew. 
Yet a form so lithe and stalwart. 

Brow and eyes so frank and clear. 
Might e'en to a timid maiden 

Worth a stolen glance appear. 

177 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Gazing at the living picture 

As the gloaming shadows fell, 
Silence closed his lips and held him 

Fettered by a magic spelL 
Passing strange that Willie Watson, 

Gayest lad in home or field, 
First in merriment or jesting, 

Felt his lips by silence sealed ! 

Still her lashes were imlifted. 

Still she uttered not a word. 
But the seething, bubbling porridge 

With increasing vigor stirred. 
Half indignant, half reproachful, 

Willie murmured with a sigh, 
''Katie, so that pot of porridge 

More attractive seems than I ?" 
"Yes," the maid replied in accents 

Sweet as tinkling waterdrops, 
"This is very entertaining: 

This not only sighs but pops!' 

Once again 'tis mild September; 

Passing months have swiftly flown ; 
Yonder's Katie stirring porridge 

In a cottage of her own. 



ns 



And Other Poems 



THE LETTER. 

PERUSING this letter I fancy 
Her low, winning tones I can hear; 
The exquisite snow of its pages 
I deem like her bosom sincere. 

Round her brow, of a beauty immortal, 
As she leant loving words to indite, 

Her dark, loosened locks may have floated 
Like shadowing mists of the night. 

Here, also, her eyes must have rested, 
Whose soul-melting ardor divine 

Can thrill all the depths of my being 

When they flash but a glance into mine. 

When I think how her dear, dainty fingers 
The pen have enclasped, or would press 

The paper with soft fairy touches, 
I long for that clasp and caress. 

When I think that, when written, the maiden 

To seal it would possibly deign 
To touch with her lips the enclosure, 

I wish, — but all wishes are vain. 



no 



A Blossom of the Sea 



THE YANTIC. 



LITTLE Canada, my dear, won't you kindly lend 
an ear 
To your neighbor. Uncle Sam ? And a loving one I am ; 
And you know I love you more 

Than a daughter ! 
Fm a mighty clever one ! I'm the bravest 'neath the 

sun! 
I'm Achilles, — just about, — if you reckon on my shout! 
But you'll kindly let me stand with my feet on solid 

land, 
As I'm shaky when I go 
On the water. 

I have built a mighty boat, but the tarnal thing won*t 

float. 
If I venture on the sea, where a vessel ought to be, 
It's surprising how she makes 
A commotion. 

For she'll bump against the ground, or cavort and roll 

around, 
Like that barrel boat, away in your own Toronto bay. 
Till I tremble in my bones lest I go to Davy Jones 
If I venture any more 

On the ocean. 



i8o 



And Other Poems 



If in harbor she remains, she will break her anchor 

chains, 
And will dash against the pier, or among the vessels 

near, — 
For destruction, as you know, 

Is her mission. 
When the other ships have fled, she will bang herself 

instead 
Upon any handy rocks. As I really haven't docks, 
If she suffers more attacks she may go to — Halifax, 
Where I hope they'll soon improve 
Her condition. 

If I had her on the shore, then she'd trouble never 

more; 
On her decks would I parade, flash aloft my shining 

blade, 
While I everlastingly 

Made my jaw go. 
Now, I really think I could make a man-of-war of 

wood. 
Like that painted thing I had which I called an ironclad 
(By the way, you saw it there when you came to my 

a — Fair), 
Like that terror, Illinois, 
At Chicago. 

But I have a wooden brig, that is not so tarnal big. 
Neither carries iron plate quite enough to sink her 
straight — 

i8i 



A Blossom of the Sea 



As I said, I have a brig 

Called the Yantic. 
Now, right up through your '^canawl" mayn't I the 

vessel haul? 
ril just take her up and keep where the water isn't 

deep. 
When I've practised there my trade, till no longer I'm 

afraid. 
Then perhaps I'll try again 
The Atlantic, 



182 



And Other Poems 



JONATHAN AND I. 

{Not Jonathan and Da<vid.) 

JONATHAN and I are neighbors, 
And our farms lie side by side, 
Mine extending to the northward. 
His to southward sloping wide. 
These from savage wildernesses 

Years ago our father won, 
Fenced them safely and accomplished 
All a father should have done. 

I am yet a younger brother 

Farming in my father's name; 
But I sow whatever suits me 

And the harvest fully claim. 
Once he did the same ; but wishing 

Owner of his farm to be. 
On refusal he grew angry, 

Sulked and wouldn't take his tea. 
Then he made it so unpleasant. 

For he had defiant grown. 
That for sake of family concord 

He received it as his own. 
This success, I think, has taught him 

To assume presumptuous airs. 



1S3 



A Blossom of the Sea 



For he now is interfering 

With his older friends' affairs. 
Go he would and dine with Cuba, 

Much against her mother's will; 
Her bananas and tobacco 

Suit his stomach rather ill. 
True, he won the dusky maiden, 

With her rather vulgar ways ; 
Took with her a "philopena/'"^ 

And he now the forfeit pays. 

Jonathan will let his children 

Come at will and play with mine ; 
Yet if mine his lands but enter 

He escorts them to the line. 
His may search my lands and, delving, 

Bear away their precious gains ; 
Mine from his may seek no treasure, 

For his own he all retains. 
Jonathan would cross and freely 

Take the timber from my lands ; 
But if I prepare and bring it 

He a heavy toll demands. 
I to eastward have a fishpond; 

On the fish he casts his eye, 
And would come and freely hook them. 

Though unwilling them to buy. 
He to westward has an island 

Where the furry seals abound, 

* The Philippines. 



184 



And Other Poems 



But he seeks to hinder hunting 
For a hundred miles around. 

And, in fact, although in friendship 
Many proffers I have made, 

Yet, except at an advantage, 
With me he will never trade. 

Both have distant back-lots : neither 

Knov^s exactly where's the line, 
But he claims the only roadway 

Leading to those lands of mine. 
I to Jonathan suggested. 

After converse vainly spent, 
We should leave it to a neighbor. 

But to this he'll not assent. 
''Come," said I, ''now toss up even."' 

"Very well/' he said. "Now choose," 
Winking as he tossed the copper ; 

''Heads, I win, and tails, you lose." 
I have more than grave suspicion 

Thus he hinders that he may 
Toll and share the precious products 

Of my acres far away. 

Though upon his ample acres 
Jonathan has wealthy grown, 

I can too be independent. 

Live and flourish on my own. 

Just across the stretch of water 
In his castle father dwells, 



185 



A Blossom of the Sea 



And I draw to him the closer 

As my neighbors more repels. 
Jonathan has often hinted 

We no longer should be two ; 
If successful, he must practise 

Some more winning way to woo. 
I shall neither vex nor coax him, 

I shall never kneel, but stand, 
Not for union, but for friendship, 

Ready with an equal's hand. 



i86 



And Other Poems 



JOHN BULL AND SON SAM. 

WELL, my Sammy, so I find 
You have fully set your mind 
On a tussle with this naughty Spanish lad, 
Who too long has had abode 
In the house across the road, 
Where they say his conduct's everything that's bad. 

For a greedy hand he'll set 
Upon all his servants get; 

And if any of them venture to resist, 
He regards nor age nor sex, 
Nor of consequences recks, 

But they feel the force and fury of his fist. 

When remonstrances you made, 
To the suffering lent your aid. 

Then you say he smashed and sank your boat for 
spite. 
'Twas a scurvy trick, if true; 
And, my lad, if I were you 

I should, — but of course it's very wrong to fight. 

I'm a very peaceful man, 
And I live so when I can, 

But I keep my hand in practice all the same : 
Those that most a fight desire 

187 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Oft will gracefully retire 

When they find one ready waiting for the game. 

I am more a man of peace 

As the weight of years increase, 

But I've done a bit of fighting in my time. 
With the father of this lad 
Many scrimmages I had, 

And I banged him in the Channel in his prime. 

He is of a cruel race ; 

By a trail of blood you'll trace 

Every pathway that his feet have ever trod. 
Here he robbed in days of old, 
Plundered princes of their gold, 

Blighting all the country as a vengeful god. 

Bang him as I banged him, son ; 
You can do as I have done ; 

You are treading closely in your father's path : 
You've an arm that's quick and strong, 
You've a heart that hates a wrong, 

And such tyranny awakens all your wrath. 

You can strike a sturdy blow. 
As your father learned to know, 

And your brethren to the same can testify. 
In domestic brawls, my son, 
You have some distinction won. 

But with strangers now^ the issue you must try. 



i88 



And Other Poems 



When the fight you once begin, 
Fight with fury and to win; 

Take advice from one that's found his method sound : 
Bang him quick and bang him hard 
Till his heels fly heavenward 

And his ugly head goes bumping on the ground. 

Thump him hard between the eyes ; 
And before you let him rise 

Make him promise soon the region to forsake. 
Lick the rascal right away; 
After licking, make him pay 

For the trouble you have been obliged to take. 

With your father's blessing, go, 
Trounce again our ancient foe, 

Let us never see his hateful face again. 
I'll be standing somewhere near 
So that none may interfere 

Till you've bounced him bag and baggage back to 
Spain. 



i8g 



A Blossom of the Sea 



GOLFING OiN THE GREEN. 

WHEN the winter snows have vanished 
From the valley and the hill, 
When the throbbing pulse of nature 

Sends through every heart a thrill, 
When the maple leaflets peeping 

From their winter homes of brown 
Wave their tiny flags to welcome 

Spring from heaven coming down, 
When the tender blades upspringing 

On the meadow bare are seen. 
Then the bag of clubs we shoulder 

And go golfing on the green. 

Life and vigor come to muscle 

From the "driver" swinging free ; 
There's elation in the "gutta" 

As it rushes from the "tee ;" 
To the step there comes a lightness 

And a brightness in the eyes. 
He that never ceases golfing 

Is the man who'll never die; 
For to breathe the breezy freshness 

That the swelling bosom fills 
Is a quite sufficient tonic 

For the worst of human ills. 



IQO 



And Other Poems 



You may play it in your boyhood, 

You may play it when you're old, 
You may play it in the tropics, 

You may play it where it's cold; 
As regards the world above us, 

I may truthfully declare 
That I never heard it stated 

That they do not play it there. 
But I'm certain when our captain 

In that other world we see 
He'll be clinging to his driver 

Hunting sand to make a "tee." 

Ye that learn the game of golfing 

Learn for life some lessons too ; 
Learn to take its fronting "hazards" 

With a steady stroke and true ; 
Take its "bunkers" with composure ; 

Do not fret when overthrown ; 
When you count your comrade's errors 

Learn as well to count your own ; 
Learn to trust a comrade's honor, 

And be honest in your play ; 
Never stoop to put a "stymie" 

In a struggling brother's way. 

Ye that love the game of golfing 
Nor its pleasures can forsake, 

In this winding earthly journey 
Ponder well the path you take. 



A Blossom of the Sea 



If your way be ever upward, 

As you ever higher rise, 
There a pleasant "course" awaits you 

On a ''green" beyond the skies. 
There are fairer hills and meadows 

Than the eye has ever seen ; — 
But among the smoke and sulphur 

There's no golfing on the green. 



ig2 



And Other Poems 



ULYSSES. 

METHOUGHT I sat upon the craggy shore 
Of Ithaca, when straying on the beach 
Came one in garb of ages long ago, 
With ample shoulders broad and bent with toil, 
Whose brown and weather-beaten face betrayed 
Long strife with storm and wind, and where the breeze 
Parted his robe were many seamed scars. 
A Viking of the North he might have been, 
A Spanish rover of the western main, 
A king returned from those far early days 
When martial fame was virtue's only meed. 
When guile and treachery were arts of war 
And pity to a fallen foe unknown. 
When strangers all were foes, and battle just 
Whenever battle promised hope of gain. 

He leaned against a shattered, fallen rock 
And told his tale, at times with voice subdued 
And falling tears, at times with frenzied wrath 
And all the lust of battle in his eye : 

"I stood upon the shores of fallen Troy, 
Hard beaten by the tread of many feet. 
Where dragging down their dusky-bosomed ships 
My eager comrades labored zealously, 



IQ3 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Weary with war and sick with thoughts of home. 

At last in rocking ships, in order set, 

With oar and sail we cleft the hoary sea. 

Each glad bark straining to the distant west. 

Where lay the little barren, rocky isle. 

The lonely hearth, and lonely child and wife. 

"Athwart our course uprose a southern blast 
And swept our barks to far Ciconian land. 
The weak are lawful prize ; for who by craft 
Or strength devises not a meet defense. 
Or lacks god-given courage, needs must be 
The slave of better men. We disembarked, 
Greedy for gain and captive fair and spoil 
To fill our long-neglected island home. 
Not to return at last with barren hands. 
We fell upon the ill-defended town 
And bore its wealth and shrieking dames away. 
Advancing from the inland warriors came, 
As many as are forest leaves in spring. 
Well skilled to battle in the brazen car. 
From dawn to dusky eve the armor clashed; 
Then beaten, we forsook the bitter fray. 
We left our dead, thrice calling each in vain, 
Regained our waiting barks and southward fled. 

"Then frowning Jove with vast embattled clouds 
Palled earth and sea with thickest glooms of night, 
And smote and rent the sails with whirlwind wrath. 
Nine days he drove us o'er the dismal deep, 



194- 



And Other Poems 



When longing eyes discerned the Lotos Land, 
Whose meads were grateful to our wearied limbs. 
Anxious to seek the homes of mortal men 
I sent along the shore a chosen band, 
Who found a people eating flowery food, 
Of war unmindful, plotting ill to none. 
Freely they gave them of their honeyed blooms, 
And straight forgotten were the leader's best, 
Desire of home, and thought of swift return. 
Content they rested, eating lotos fruit, 
Until I, with a father's yearning heart. 
Regardless of their tears and wailings loud, 
Bore off and bound them in my benched ships. 
Till drugged and deadened hearts should beat again 
And torpid bosoms warm with love of home. 

''Again we beat the deep to hoary foam, 
And reached a land of vales and mountains vast, 
Within whose lofty caverns giants dwell. 
Who neither sow nor till, but garner free 
Whatever grain the bounteous vales produce, 
And press their purple wines from clusters rich 
That Jove has ripened with his sun and shower. 
In night and gloom we landed on the shore, 
But at the touch of rosy-fingered Dawn 
The shadows fled. Afar we heard the bleat 
Of sheep and goat and voice of giant men, 
Huge, lawless, and regardless of the gods. 

"One near his cave we saw, vast as some cliff 
That overpeers his fellow mountain peaks; 



IQS 



A Blossom of the Sea 



His staff a lofty fir, of branches bared, 

Snatched from the springing grove beside his path. 

Upon a grassy ledge he lay reclined 

And slept unmindful of his countless flocks. 

Eager a gift of friendship to obtain, 

Twelve v^^orthy comrades from the ship I chose 

And in the cave awaited his return. 

At eve he came and crashed upon the earth 

His faggots dry, and cared for all his flocks, 

Then barred secure the door with massive rock. 

In terror at the monster huge and fierce 

To far recesses of the cave we fled. 

But when the faggots blazed, regarding not 

The rights of strangers, nor the gods on whom 

We called, he rushing came, and clutching twain 

He dashed them fiercely on the rocky hearth. 

Then like a lion, mountain-born, he fed. 

Rending their tender limbs with mouthings loud, 

Till gorged at last he slept among his sheep. 

But when at morn, and yet again at eve. 

The greedy giant slew his shrinking prey. 

With guile we gave him soul-subduing wine ; 

And while he lay supine in drunken sleep 

We pierced with kindled bar his cruel eye. 

Then loud the monster bellowed in his pain 

And roared till all the mighty cavern rang " 

And woke the echoes of the sleeping crags. 

When Morning touched the ruddy hills with light 

He moved the barrier for his bleating flocks, 

And, though he at the cavern entrance stood 



iq6 



And Other Poems 



And blindly groped with wide-extended hands, 
We fled concealed among his fleecy sheep, 
The fattest of his flock we drove away, 
Regained our waiting bark ; and, when I thought 
We rode secure the heaving deep, I mocked 
The sightless monster. He with frenzy wild 
Broke off the beetling crags and hurled them high 
And far, and sought to crush us in our ships 
Or whelm us in the tumult of the waves. 
But foiled, he raised his hands and sightless eye 
To heav'n and prayed that we might never reach 
Our native isle, or I alone and late should come 
To troubled home. And Neptune heard his prayer. 
Thus we escaped, our comrades' loss avenged. 
But Neptune's never-dying wrath aroused 
In blinding thus his son. So hard it is 
For man to live and not offend the gods. 

''Sadly and gladly onward then we sailed 
And reached the floating isle of Eolus, 
The lord of winds. He pent the adverse blasts 
Within a sack entrusted to my care. 
And gave a gentle breeze to bear us home. 
Nine days we sailed. We saw our native land 
Loom in the distance, when, o'ercome with toil, 
I dropped the rudder. Sleep relaxed my soul. 
Then my companions in their greed for gold, 
Deeming that I had treasure hid therein, 
Unloosed the leathern sack. The adverse blasts 
Escaped and swept us far from native land. 



IQ7 



A Blossom of the Sea 



O would the boisterous wave had gulfed me deep 
Ere I became the guide to foolish men ! 

''Six days we sailed both day and night, and came 

To Lsestrygonian land. Here also dwelt 

A giant brood, who slew and then devoured 

My herald, crushed my ships with whirling rocks, 

And bore my men away, as spitted fish. 

To feast upon them in the palace halls. 

My ship, the most remote, alone escaped. 

Sadly we sailed and left behind, as prey 

For maws of giants, comrades dear, who braved 

The tempest and the tossing swell, nor found 

A deep though never-resting grave; who fought 

With gods and heroes on the plains of Troy, 

Nor left their corses in its bloody dust. 

O who can know the purpose of the gods, 

Avoid their anger or appease their wrath? 

"Afar we sailed to Circe's sylvan isle, 

A fair-haired goddess, daughter of the Sun, 

Who dwelt amid a grove in polished halls. 

Adroit she was to weave the graceful web 

While chanting notes of soul-alluring song; 

Or tame the lion and the mountain wolf 

And make them crouch and fawn as playful hounds. 

Expert she was, with drugged and honeyed wine 

And touch of magic wand, fair, godlike men 

To change to groveling swine, that yet retained. 

Though couched in sty, the mind and thought of men. 

ig8 



And Other Poems 



"But when the hall of Circe I approached, 
The golden-wanded Hermes lighted nigh 
And gave me moly, black in root, but white 
In flower. Unharmed I drank the honeyed wine, 
Unchanged I stood when touched with magic wand. 
Amazed that all her potent charms were vain, 
She kindly grew, and gave me goodly robes. 
And placed me on a silver-studded throne, 
Restored my comrades, gave them cloaks of wool, 
With pleasant viands, rich and ruddy wine. 

"But Cir^e, comely, graceful and divine. 

Had other subtle charms and magic wiles 

That even moly could not counteract. 

Her beauty wove a spell about my heart. 

Her songs were soothing to my saddened soul, 

Her voice had music in its whispered tone, 

Her hand more magic than her fairy wand. 

Forgetful of my home and native land. 

On plea of weariness and needed rest 

Enchanted thus I dallied there a year, 

Whose hasting moons too swiftly waxed and waned, 

Regaled with dainty food and luscious wines, 

Within her palace halls of polished stone. 

"Again we launched the ship and set our sails. 
And reached, at floating ocean's farthest verge, 
The dark Cimmerian Land, where shadows brood 
And glooms of endless night, where sun at morn. 
At noon, nor yet again at evening, sends a ray 
To pierce the chaos of eternal dark, 



IQQ 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Where lie the gates of sombre Erebus 

And all the chambers of the cheerless dead. 

We hither came in quest of prophet old 

To read the dark decrees of rigid Fate 

And give us knowledge of the homeward way. 

Libations due of honey, wine and meal 

We straightway made. I slew the black-fleeced sheep, 

Whose dark blood into hollow trench I poured. 

Invoking Pluto and Persephone, 

The rulers of the joyless Land of Death. 

In throngs the strengthless shadows of the dead 

Approached and sought to quaff the flowing blood ; 

And each that quaffed regained his mortal speech. 

But foremost of the ghostly legions came 

Tiresias, a Theban prophet old. 

Who quickly bov/ed him at the trench and drank. 

And when I questioned of my fate he said : 

'Thou shalt, though late, in safety yet return, 

But greatly suffer on the tossing seas 

From wrath of Neptune for his blinded son. 

Full sorely grieved is fair Penelope 

By haughty suitors feasting in her hall, 

Demanding her, a sad, unwilling bride. 

Her wrongs thou shalt in bloody wrath avenge 

With bitter shaft and ruthless brazen spear. 

Then shalt thou dwell at inland palace, far 

Removed from heaving billow^s of the sea; 

And after many years, in honored age 

Among a people happy made by thee, 

Shalt calmly meet the gentle call of Death 



200 



And Other Poems 



As one who after day of labor long 

At evening sinks to rest and dreamless sleep.' 

He vanished. Then, with anxious, loving glance 

That beamed with earthly tenderness and love, 

My mother came with hasting steps and drank. 

And when I asked of home she sadly said : 

'Thy wife is ever faithful. As she plies 

The web among her maidens, night and day, 

Her eyes at thy delay are wet with tears. 

Thy father, bowing low in grief for thee. 

By growing age enfeebled, nightly lies 

Neglected, clad in filthy, ragged robes, — 

In winter, in the dust beside the fire. 

In summer, in the leaves amid the vines. 

Far from the palace of his absent son. 

And I, not smitten by some slow disease. 

Not by Diana's gentle arrow slain. 

But lonely, ever waiting thee in vain. 

From care, regret and love of thee have come 

To wander in the cheerless realms of Death.' 

Her low and plaintive tone, her pallid face 

Awoke the dormant mem'ries of my heart. 

Thrice I essayed her spirit to embrace. 

But thrice it flitted from my clasping arms 

Like passing shadow or a fleeting dream. 

With tender, mournful eyes she backward glanced, 

And, with a sigh as sad as sobbing wind 

That wails and moans on lonely winter night, 

She shrank away among the ghostly throng. 



201 



A Blossom of the Sea 



"I saw the spirits of the dames of old, 
Mothers of heroes, brides of gods and men : 
Alcmene, Leda, Ariadne fair. 
And all that won on earth immortal names. 
Some, weeping, told their many grievous woes ; 
Some boasted of the prowess of their sons. 
The blameless offspring of the mighty gods. 

"Then came my comrades that had fought at Troy. 
Though all are joyless in the realms of shade, 
Saddest of souls that roam the meads of Death 
Came Agamemnon, who, with shrill lament 
And dropping tears, bewailed his piteous fate : 
By Clytemnestra slain, has wedded wife — 
A bitter welcome home from years of war; 
Sent from the genial sun and blooming earth. 
Before the term of life's allotted days. 
With pallid ghosts and incorporeal shapes 
To tread the sunless pathways of the dead. 

"Then swift Achilles and Patroclus came. 
Comrades in life, companions too in death. 
But when I marked Achilles' clouded brow, 
With winged words the hero I addressed: 
'Why art thou sad ? None lived so blest as thou. 
Nor will there be in after-time thy peer. 
None equaled thee upon the plains of Troy 
In grace of form or strength of mighty arm 
To lay the princely Trojans in the dust. 
In life, we Greeks adored thee as a god; 
And here among the dead thou art a king. 



202 



And Other Poems 



** 'Ulysses brave, speak not to me of death: 
Better a slave on earth and serve a man 
Of no estate, than king and reign supreme 
Among the cheerless kingdoms of the dead. 
But, since the dead revisit not the earth 
Nor knov^ they aught of deeds of mortal men, 
Come, tell me of my noble son, — if he, 
Though coming late, achieved in glorious war 
A chieftain's name ; or of my aged sire. 
Who, now perchance dishonored and oppressed. 
Hath yet no son to ward his. waning years.' 

"Of blameless Peleus nothing had I learned ; 
But then, because I said his son was brave 
And ever fought the foremost in the fray, 
Off went Achilles, taking mighty strides. 
Joyful, across the meads of asphodel, — 
In all the throng the only happy soul. 

"And other souls I saw that cherished yet 

The thoughts of earth : brave Ajax, angered still 

Because Achilles' armor I had won; 

Wise Minos judging souls as mortal men; 

Orion chasing shades of deer he slew ; 

And Hercules with mighty bended bow. 

"Some saw I too enduring endless pain, 
The penalty of grievous deeds on earth. 
With greedy beak the vultures ever tore 
The breast of Tityus, the giant huge 
That seized Latona, bride of miglTty Jove. 



203 



A Blossom of the Sea 



There Tantalus, by famine and by thirst 
Tormented, saw abundant luscious fruits 
That ever vanished from his eager grasp. 
And streamlets cool that ever fled his lip. 
There wearied Sisyphus with endless toil 
Strove up the steep to heave a stubborn stone ; 
But ever as the summit he approached 
It rolled and tumbled thundering to the plain, 
And left him baffled in a cloud of dust. 

''But as in myriads yet the shadows came, 
And much I feared Persephone might send 
A Gorgon head to chill my mortal frame 
And drive me down the sombre vales of Death, 
I left the clamorous throng and quickly sought 
My comrades. Bidding them embark in haste. 
With oar and sail we swiftly sped away. 

"Again we came to Circe's sylvan isle, 
And banqueted on food and purple wine 
By comely maidens brought. Beside the ship 
My comrades through the dewy darkness slept; 
But me enchanting Circe led away 
To fragrant secret bower. There meet reply 
I made when she with lips divine inquired 
Of all my journey to the Land of Death. 

She then recounted perils that beset 

My homewand way, and how I might escape 

And yet in safety reach my native isle. 

In converse sweet the calm ambrosial night 



204 



And Other Poems 



Too swiftly passed; too soon the rosy Dawn 
With ruddy fingers drew the veil of Day. 
We early rose, embarked and set the mast, 
And fair-haired Circe sent a welcome gale 
That filled our sails, and cleft the foamy wave 
And bore us onward from the happy isle. 

^'Obedient to her warnings, we escaped 

The tuneful tempting of the Sirens' song, 

Alluring and so sweet that I myself, 

Though bound and fettered, yet by signs implored 

My deafened crew to near the fatal shore, 

Balancing death with momentary bliss, 

''Onward we fled where in a narrow sea 
Our course by baleful monsters was beset. 
There, while we watched Charybdis gulping down 
And belching forth again the boiling wave 
With crash and roar of thunder till the foam 
Besprent the topmast rock, unseen and swift 
The serpent necks of Scylla, bending, seized 
My shrinking comrades, who, suspended high. 
Struggled and shrieked and stretched imploring hands. 
Swung to her craggy cave, with moan and cry 
Helpless they died. This saddest sight I saw 
In all my wanderings o'er the pathless sea. 

"We fled in fear and horror till we reached 
The isle of Helios, whose glossy herds 
Roamed free and fearless o'er the fragrant meads. 
By Circe warned and sage Tiresias, 



205 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Recounting all their dread prophetic words, 
What ruin and disaster would befall 
If we should slay the oxen of the god, 
I urged my men to drive my bark beyond 
The isle, and thus avoid impending Fate. 
But recent fears and terror of the night 
O'ercame my crew. All swore a mighty oath 
The oxen, sleek and fat, broad-browed and black, 
Upon the grassy lawn to leave unharmed. 
But gnawing hunger broke their solemn vow^ ; 
For, while my eyes were weighed with grateful sleep, 
They slew the herds in which the god rejoiced 
When wheeling earthward from the fields of Dawn 
Or speeding to the starry underworld. 

"Then Helios invoked the heavenly gods 
And called for vengeance from immortal Jove, 
Who sent in wrath a tempest roaring loud, 
And hurled a crashing thunderbolt of flame 
Upon our shattered ship. The crew, as gulls, 
Floated away upon the tumbling waves, 
And I alone, on broken keel and mast 
Wrenched from the ruined ship, avoided Fate. 

'Tn desperation clinging to the keel. 

Escaping dire Charybdis once again, 

At length I drifted to the lonely isle 

Where fair Calypso dwelt, a goddess dread 

That spake with human voice. With kindly words 

She led where blazed the hearth within her cave, 



206 



And Other Poems 



With spice and cedar fragrant. O'er the loom 

She bent and bhthely sang, and wove the web 

With golden shuttle. Round her grotto grew 

A cypress grove and vines of cluster rich ; 

And fountains flowed in cool and limpid streams 

Through pleasant meadows fair with fragrant flowers. 

"Year after year the moons had waxed and waned 

And still I lingered in Calypso's isle, 

Deploring Fate and longing for return. 

Although she promised me immortal youth 

Should I forget my bride Penelope 

And dwell in sweet enduring love with her, 

A bride immortal, stately and divine. 

"Then fair Athene, moved at my distress. 
Besought the gods to send a quick release. 
Jove gave command, and winged Hermes flew 
Down high Olympus, o'er Pierian land, 
Across the crested wave with Fate's decree. 
Calypso then reluctantly obeyed. 
In goodly garments clad, with food and wine 
She sent me forth upon a well-wrought raft. 
Secure I rode till dimly I descried 
The misty mountains of Phaeacia nigh, 
When wrathful Neptune spied my fragile craft 
And with his trident tossed the billows high. 
Awoke the winds and veiled the sky with night. 
Out-flung, I swam and reached the shore and slept, 
Exhausted, hidden in a leafy grove. 



207 



A Blossom of the Sea 



"A shout and merry voices broke my rest. 

Nausicaa, the daughter of the king, 

A queen of beauty, stately and divine, 

Sported among her maidens on the shore. 

The maidens fled, Hke timid frightened doves ; 

But she for my distress cared tenderly, 

Gave soul-reviving wine, ambrosial food. 

Warm, comely garments wrought of purple wool, 

And kindly guidance to her father's hall. 

Within the palace, rich with bronze and gold, 

On thrones enrobed by skilful, queenly hand, 

Arete sat and kingly Alcinous. 

They gave me courteous greeting, gathered all 

The princes of the wide Phaeacian land. 

Prepared a bounteous, equal feast. 

Whereat the blind old bard Demodocus 

Began to sing of heroes and of Troy. 

While thus he sang I bowed my head and wept, 

Re-living all the glorious strife again. 

The wondering king inquiring why I wept 

I told my name and all my bitter woes. 

And long desire to reach my native isle. 

" 'Fain had I wished,' the goodly king replied, 

'That thou wouldst in my palace dwell content 

And take my comely daughter as thy bride, 

Whose heart thy woes and warlike deeds have won. 

But, since thy mind is set on swift return 

Where faithful waits thy bride of early youth. 

Rich presents shalt thou have and guidance home.' 



208 



And Other Poems 



*'After deep woes and long-endured distress 

Fond, tender love is more supremely dear. 

Thus Circe's charms had won me for a time, 

Thus had the fair Calypso held me long. 

Though these were both immortals, goddess-born. 

Yet ne'er so tempted was I to forget 

My early bride and all my sorrows past 

And live secure in palace halls with one 

Within whose breast I first had wakened love, — 

A maid of kindly heart and prudent mind. 

Perfect in form and beautiful in face. 

Wearing all charms of maiden innocence. 

But thoughts of home and faithful love prevailed, 

And I besought immediate guidance hence. 

They launched a rocking ship upon the deep ; 

Then brought they presents rich and numberless 

Of bronze and well-wrought gold, and purple cloaks, 

And, placing all in order, smote the sea 

With shining oars and swiftly sped away. 

But soon they reached my little rocky isle 

And laid me safe but sleeping on the shore. 

Then came Athene, stored my treasure safe 

Within a grotto, gave me meet disguise 

And prudent counsel, bade me journey first 

Where stout Eumaeus kept my herd of swine. 

"He, faithful found throughout the passing years, 
Regarding not my beggar's ragged robe, 
Received me kindly and recounted all 
The deeds of haughty suitors in my halls, — 



20Q 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Their wasting of my substance day by day, 
Their insuhs to my queen Penelope, 
Their ambush laid to intercept and slay 
Telemachus returning from his quest. 
To him I told a fiction interspersed 
With truth, of how I came to Ithaca; 
And he related how Phenician men 
Had borne him from his father's royal dome 
And sold him here a slave in foreign land. 
Feasting and quaffing purple wines we sat 
While fled the night's ambrosial hours away. 
But with the morning came Telemachus. 
Glad was the welcome that Eumaeus gave. 
As might a father give a tender son 
After long absence home returning safe; 
And I rejoiced to see him well-beloved. 
But when his lodge the faithful swineherd left 
To bear the queen a message from her son 
No longer I my feelings could restrain; 
But all the longings of my lonely heart 
Came swelling as a sea within my breast. 
In close embrace I clasped my gallant son, 
A helpless babe when twenty years before 
I left him smiling in his mother's arms, 
But now a youth to cheer a father's heart 
With pride and hope. With intermingled tears 
We sat while fled the waning hours of day. 
Recounting all our many bitter woes 
And plotting death for all the suitors proud. 



210 



And Other Poems 



"With morning sped Telemachns away. 

With stout Eumaeus to my home I came 

In beggar's rags disguised, upon the road 

Spurned and insulted by Melanthius, 

Who led the fattest of my bleating goats 

A savory banquet for the suitors proud. 

Argus, my faithful hound, neglected lay. 

Unkempt and ill. He rose with plaintive whine, 

But sank and died of joy at my return. 

Within the palace many a prince and chief 

In wild carousal drank my ruddy wine 

And feasted on the cattle from my stalls. 

Long unrestrained, grown insolent and bold, 

Telemachus they treated with disdain; 

My queen they pressed against her will to wed ; 

Her waiting-maids they dragged away and shamed; 

They mocked my tattered rags and seeming age; 

Denied me food and smote me with their stools; 

The burly beggar, Irus, urged to fight. 

Him with a blow I crushed; then dragging, flung 

Him, gasping, groaning, near the outer gate. 

"My prudent queen by stratagem the day 

Of choice had long deferred; but now at last 

The urgent suitors brooked no more delay 

And all refused departure till she wed. 

She claimed from each a costly bridal gift. 

And promised who should bend my bow and send 

A faultless shaft should lead her as a bride. 

Loud laughed my heart to see their feeble strength, 



211 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Their vain attempts, their futile artifice. 
I bade them pray for power from the gods 
And wait for morn. Then, even where I sat, 
I strung the sounding bow and sent a shaft 
That hissing sped and passed the ports of steel 
And cleft with brazen barb the door beyond. 
Then leaping up I shot a bitter shaft 
That pierced the throat of vaunting Antinous, 
E'en as he quaffed a golden double cup : 
Defiled with wane and streaming blood he fell. 
Then forth broke all my long-imprisoned wrath; 
I taunted them with all their shameless deeds. 
And one by one, as wolves, I shot them down. 
Then when the arrows failed, with sword and spear, 
With loud triumphant shout, I smote them low; 
I mocked the shrinking cowards in their death, 
And gloated o'er their dying agonies. 
Not one I spared. In heaps upon the floor 
They lay like netted fish upon the beach. 
Sweet is revenge to wrong-embittered soul ! 

''The aged matron warned Penelope, 
Who, as I sat beside the brazier, came, 
More stately, more divinely beautiful 
Than when I brought her home a virgin bride. 
In silence, now believing, doubting now, 
She gazed and strove my image to recall 
From misty memories of years agone, 
Nor yielded hastily her cautious mind, 
Suspicious of imposture and deceit. 



212 



And Other Poems 



At last, convinced, with tears and cry of joy 
She flung her snowy arms about my neck 
And clung with many a kiss and fond caress, — 
A kindly welcome home from years of war, 
A guerdon meet for all my bitter woes. 
In converse sweet the calm and blissful night 
We spent, recounting all that Fate had brought, 
Till gentle Slumber softly sealed our eyes 
And Silence waited for the ruddy Dawn." 

He paused, and when I raised my eyes had gone; 
And half I wished the days would come again 
When all the world was fresh and young; when sea 
And sky and land yet teemed with mysteries ; 
When Science had not robbed us of the joy 
Of Wonder; when the Vast Unknown gave scope 
For Fancy's dream and Superstition's dread ; 
When pleasing Fear provoked the gallant soul; 
When godlike men yet trusted in the strength 
Of sinewed arm and brave, undaunted breast ; 
When lonely isles were homes of fairy queens ; 
When gods immortal deigned to dwell on earth 
And mingle in th' affairs of mortal men, 
Stand visible and thwart us face to face. 
Or, taking human form and human voice. 
Beside us walk as comrades hand in hand. 

March, 1909. 



213 



A Blossom of the Sea 



AVIATORS. 

Terra, aqua, ign't, acre 'victo, quid ultra? 



PRESUMPTUOUS, man was deemed by poet sage 
Because he dared in fragile bark to brave 
What billows on the ocean levels rage; 

Undaunted now he stoops beneath the wave, 
Companion of leviathan and shark, 
Or what of dread frequents that realm of dark. 



Nay more ; he yokes the lightning to his car. 
Or steals its flaming torch to banish night; 

Therewith he wings his words to friends afar, 
Or dips his pencil in its flashing light ; 

Therewith he distant whirls the busy wheel 

To delve the mine or shape the glowing steel. 



Not satisfied to rush his iron steed 

O'er hill and valley snorting smoke and flame, 
Spurning the earth in reckless thundering speed, — 

Not satisfied of bronze and steel to frame 
His barge with heart of fire, that scorns the sweep 
Of fiercest blasts that fret the frenzied deep, — 



214 



And Other Poems 



Conqueror of earth, of water, and of fire, 
He now essays the void and viewless air 

Whose secret mysteries inflame desire 

And tempt the bold, audacious breast to dare 

The heights where soars no eagle's pinion swift, 

Nor floating clouds their sunlit brows uplift. 



Roamers of worlds where man has never gone, 
Bring me the secrets of this rolling sphere. 

Who blends the tintings of the glows of Dawn? 
Whence ride the Tempests in their mad career? 

Who pilots through the azure seas the clouds? 

Where weave the Darknesses their sable shrouds? 



Whence cometh Spring to wake and gladden earth, 
And where does Winter forge his crystal chains? 

Where do the restless lightnings have their birth, 
And who their wild, impetuous course ordains? 

Is Thunder's fortress in yon blue serene 

Where hold the Silences their vast demesne? 



Are ye endowed with more than mortal sight. 
Peering beyond our brief horizon rims? 

Ken ye the wonders of the seas of light 

Wherein our earth with all her kindred swims? 

Can ye o'erpass the pale of Time and Place, 

Afar discern and mete the bounds of Space? 



215 



A Blossom of the Sea 



Have ye in deeps ethereal yet descried 

The far faint loomings of ''The Happy Isles" ? 

What is this thrill called Life, and where abide 
Her secret springs? In what obscure defiles 

Of vastness, ever blighting with his breath 

All forms of being, lurks her conqueror, Death? 



Have ye discerned beyond the Vast of Blue 

Some clime where Death no more may Life assail, 

Where Life may flee and Death no more pursue? 
Or, in the last great End, shall Death prevail 

And have dominion, broad and measureless, 

O'er blank, chaotic voids of Nothingness? 



Or, is death also but another form 

Of life, or agent that prepares the way 

For fuller, higher life, when all the storm 
And chill are past? The fallen leaves decay; 

But from their dust the dainty touch of Spring 

May fragrant, radiant-bosomed flowers bring. 



Can ye dissolve our doubts and nearer bring 

The long-sought hour when we shall fully know 

Life's origin and destiny, and fling 
Aside the veils of mystery and show 

Why nothing rests, from atoms of the mould 

To e'en the hugest planet we behold? 



216 



And Other Poems 



What means this all-pervading energy 

Of Nature? Know ye whither does it tend? 

The streamlet hastens to the distant sea, 

Nor hath e'en there its restlessness an end. 

In all existence nothing slumbereth — 

Is motion life and loss of motion death? 



O whither sweeps this ceaseless, endless tide 
Of being? Where and what its final goal? 

Some Hand hath made and must its motions guide; 
Some Mind Eternal planned the perfect Whole, 

And somewhere, doubtless, in his purpose vast 

Hath set a goal for each and all at last. 



2iy 



A Blossom of the Sea 



FINIS. 

WE SCAN the volume with a careless eye: 
Its fancy may an idle hour beguile, 
We scan the volume with a careless eye : 

Its fancy may an idle hour beguile, 
Its grief awake a momentary sigh, 

Its merriment provoke a transient smile, 
Its graver theme attract a passing thought; 

But then we close and cast the book aside, 
With half its hidden treasure yet unsought, 

And all its inner beauty undescried. 

E'en so, the Book of Life we take and find 

Smiles, joys and hopes that now the heart elate, 

Frets, pangs and tears that leave a trace behind, 
And mysteries we may not penetrate ; 

We then replace it in the Author's hand, 

And nothing of His purpose understand. 




218 



)EQ 14 1910 



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